The Two Clans
by Frank Wave
Summary: In a forest, far, far away from where the Clans live, there lived two Clans. Well, actually there lived one Clan, but I suppose it's not much of a spoiler to tell you there will be two Clans soon. This story has a leader named Bananastar, a rival with a sibling, characters such as Smellybutt and Frightenedmouth, and most of all, a guest appearance by YOU! What could be funnier?
1. Allegiances

**BOOK 1-THE TWO CLANS**

Allegiances

**CrazyClan**

**Leader**-Bananastar-a yellow-furred tom with large, noticeable blue eyes and two banana-shaped ears on top of his head. The usual.

**Deputy**-Cookiehead-a black tom with large brown eyes and a head shaped unnaturally round like a cookie.

**Medicine Cat**-Stupidknowledge-A black she-cat with green eyes who has no knowledge of herbs.

**Warriors**-Smellybutt-a black tom with amber eyes and uncontrollable personal hygiene.

Risinghead-a flame-colored tom with green eyes and a head that rises ocassionally.

Brokenspine-a gray she-cat with green eyes and a broken spine.

Laughingmouth-A bracken-colored tom with amber eyes and uncontrollable bursts of laughs.

**APPRENTICE, REDPAW**

Stupidface-a rather stupid tortoiseshell tom; a blue cat with black eyes, a mouth that stretches to his ears, ears that are at least twelve feet tall, and a nose shaped like a trunk.

**APPRENTICE, SERPENTPAW**

Macaronicheese-a flame-colored tom with green eyes whose favorite fresh-kill is macaroni and cheese.

Dogeater-a strange, flame-colored she-cat with a small mouth and yellow eyes who claims that she has ate a dog before.

**APPRENTICE, NICEPAW**

Punycat-a very puny tom who is small and has amber eyes.

Picknose-a tabby tomcat who has a sleek gray pelt, pale gold eyes, and likes to pick his nose.

Frightenedmouth-a she-cat with a black pelt and yellow eyes, whose mouth is always open in surprise.

Explodingface-a black tom with green eyes whose face has exploded at least seven trillion times(and counting).

**Apprentices**-Nicepaw-A black-pelted, yellow-eyed mean she-cat with paws that are nice unlike the rest of her body.

Serpentpaw-A copper-pelted tom with green eyes whose paws are actually serpents(though no one notices for some strange reason).

Redpaw-A strange, gray-colored tom with heather-blue eyes and a red paw.

**Queens**-Blueface-a blue-faced she-cat with bracken-colored eyes who was a queen for seven million years and still hasn't had any kits(nobody knows that she does not have a mate, nor that she secretly plays on her Nintendo 3DS when no cat is looking).

**Elders**-Oldpelt-a gray tom with gray eyes and an old pelt. 'Nuff said?

**CATS OUTSIDE CLANS**

Xadjsfbksdjfdskdhjfsfbjjjjjj jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjhgytrge riwjejweirijwiejrwkjdnsknsds tar-One of the weirdest cats around. He has a ragged gray pelt and tired, amber eyes. He used to be a member of CrazyClan, but it wasn't long before he set off to make his own Clan where he could make his own rules. His brother is Bananastar.


	2. Prologue

**PROLOGUE:**

Xadjsfbksdjfdskdhjfsfbjjjjjj jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjhgytrge riwjejweirijwiejrwkjdnsknsds tar growled as he paced the moorlands around CrazyClan. Today was the day right before leaf-bare, and as the leader looked around he marveled upon how it seemed as if it was leaf-bare already. There was snow, the trees were bare, and no prey ran around, all curled up in their dens. All the cats were curled up in their dens too. He was the only cat that walked the moorlands currently, and for a good cause too.

Not a few hours ago, Xadjsfbksdjfdskdhjfsfbjjjjjj jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjhgytrge riwjejweirijwiejrwkjdnsknsds tar was just any other ordinary member of CrazyClan. Just another ordinary warrior. His brother, Bananastar-the weirdest tom around, Xadjsfbksdjfdskdhjfsfbjjjjjj jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjhgytrge riwjejweirijwiejrwkjdnsknsds tar thought-had loved Xadjsfbksdjfdskdhjfsfbjjjjjj jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjhgytrge riwjejweirijwiejrwkjdnsknsds tar so much that he let him have the 'star' suffix as only leaders should have. The warrior liked this freedom, as if he was a 'second leader'.

If he was truly a 'second leader', then perhaps he would have stayed.

Xadjsfbksdjfdskdhjfsfbjjjjjj jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjhgytrge riwjejweirijwiejrwkjdnsknsds tar and Bananastar both were happy, living through newleaf, greenleaf, leaf-fall, and leaf-bare together happily, for many seasons. He had soon been appointed deputy, and couldn't be happier. Now he could assign patrols and have more assignments over the Clan cats. It had been barely a moon when Bananastar called him up and said that he loved having him as deputy, but there were several flaws(that he didn't list out)that allowed him to be unsuitable for deputy. Bananastar then appointed Cookiehead as deputy. Cookiehead was a perfectly good warrior, but was he better than Xadjsfbksdjfdskdhjfsfbjjjjjj jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjhgytrge riwjejweirijwiejrwkjdnsknsds tar? No! Why, he could make his own Venn diagram and the only things filled would be differences! Cookiehead didn't even have a 'star' suffix!

Then Xadjsfbksdjfdskdhjfsfbjjjjjj jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjhgytrge riwjejweirijwiejrwkjdnsknsds tar blew his top.

Xadjsfbksdjfdskdhjfsfbjjjjjj jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjhgytrge riwjejweirijwiejrwkjdnsknsds tar admitted to everyone in his Clan that all he wanted was to have more power over his Clan, and a bunch of other stuff that you'll probably deem boring. He then did his long rant on Cookiehead, and shouted, "Well, Bananastar, at least make the choice of a better deputy!"(with a lot of exclamation marks)and stomped off into the forest.

_Bananastar, _said Xadjsfbksdjfdskdhjfsfbjjjjjj jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjhgytrge riwjejweirijwiejrwkjdnsknsds tar. _What kind of name is that? Bananstar. Why, it's so stupid the author even misspelled his name in the previous phrase! _

Then Xadjsfbksdjfdskdhjfsfbjjjjjj jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjhgytrge riwjejweirijwiejrwkjdnsknsds tar realized that he was breaking the fourth wall and decided to continue on with his adventure.

As Xadjsfbksdjfdskdhjfsfbjjjjjj jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjhgytrge riwjejweirijwiejrwkjdnsknsds tar continued on, he thought he heard a scuffling sound in the grass. _Probably a mouse scurrying away to its hollow, _he said to himself, and continued walking. But then he heard it again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And-

I probably should end this paragraph now, shall I?

Xadjsfbksdjfdskdhjfsfbjjjjjj jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjhgytrge riwjejweirijwiejrwkjdnsknsds tar looked over his shoulder to see what was making that annoying scurrying sound that caused the author to write 'and again' repeatedly. And as he saw it, his jaw dropped in horror as if he was Frightenedmouth-however, he wasn't really Frightenedmouth, and Frightenedmouth's mouth was always open like that forever, and plus, Frightenedmouth's gape was much bigger, and-

Getting off topic here, am I? Let's restate that sentence.

And as he saw it, his jaw dropped in horror as if he was Frightenedmouth. "Who are you?" the leader meowed in horror. "Are you really-really-a Twoleg?"

"What in the world is a Twoleg?" the Twoleg said.

"A Twoleg is you!" said the leader.

"Is Twoleg an insult or something?" the Twoleg said, shrugging these things at the top of his arms.

"No," the leader said.

"Then what is it?" the Twoleg said.

"A Twoleg is a creature that stands on two legs," said the leader. "Like you."

"So chimpanzees are Twolegs?" asked the Twoleg.

"What is a chimpanzee?"

"Never mind," said the Twoleg, scratching fur at the top of his head. "The question is, who are you?"

"Actually, who are you?" the leader asked.

"You first."

"No, you."

"No, you. I'm polite."

"No, it's fine, I'll let the Twoleg go first."

"Fine." The Twoleg took a deep breath for no particular reason. "I am not known by a real name. But most authors writing a story call me, 'the reader'."

"So...?" the leader said, eagerly waiting for the next thing.

"Well," the reader(a.k.a you)said, "I was just reading this book and I was at this sentence that said 'Then Xadjsfbksdjfdskdhjfsfbjjjjjj jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjhgytrge riwjejweirijwiejrwkjdnsknsds tar realized that he was breaking the fourth wall and decided to continue on with his adventure' when, poof, here I am in the middle of a forest. I have no idea why I'm here. Now, who are you."

"I'm Xadjsfbksdjfdskdhjfsfbjjjjjj jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjhgytrge riwjejweirijwiejrwkjdnsknsds tar," the leader said.

"You mean Bananastar's brother?" the reader exclaimed.

"How in the Dark Forest did you know that?" the leader yowled.

"Well...I have ways," the reader decided to answer ominously leaving the leader to ponder over how he got here for a partial remainder of the story.

Suddenly, a lightbulb lit up in the leader's head.

"Hey, can we be friends?" the leader asked.

"Sure," the reader said. He held out his hand.

The leader bit it.

"Ouch!" the reader said, pulling his hand away. "That hurt! What you're supposed to do is _shake _it."

"Okay," the leader answered, and the reader put his arm towards the leader.

Xadjsfbksdjfdskdhjfsfbjjjjjj jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjhgytrge riwjejweirijwiejrwkjdnsknsds tar shook his hand vigourously.

"No, no, NO!" the reader shouted. "You have to shake it slowly." Then the reader lent out his hand again.

This time, the leader did it the correct way.

"Why'd we do that anyway?" the leader asked.

"An offical mark of friendship," the reader said. "We call it, 'shaking hands'."

"Now come on," the leader said, waving his tail. "I just got a great idea!"


	3. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1**

"I really miss Xadjsfbksdjfdskdhjfsfbjjjjjj jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjhgytrge riwjejweirijwiejrwkjdnsknsds tar," Bananastar mewed, head on paws. He was sitting mournfully in the leaders' den, which was very dark even though it was still day outside. His tail was curled around his paws, and Bananastar's large blue eyes blinked sadly. Not even his blue eyes could be very noticeable in this state of emotion. Nothing could cheer Bananastar up.

Bananastar heard some rustling outside his den, but he didn't stir from his place.

"Come in," he meowed tunelessly.

Of course, the cat who happened to walk in was Cookiehead. His deputy. Even the thought of his new deputy couldn't make him happier. Why, would it? If he was thinking about his _old _deputy, why would the fact his _new _deputy came strolling in help him feel any better?

"What is it, Cookiehead?" Bananastar yelled.

Cookiehead did not respond. Then he yelled out a squeal of excitement. "I just wanted to ask you something..."

"What?" Bananastar snapped.

"When will I get started with my deputy duties?" Cookiehead asked. "I'm so excited to start.

Of course, Bananastar was feeling glum today. So, as Cookiehead was there asking him about his new deputy duties, Bananastar's tiredness caused him to misinterpret this sentence as 'new deputy doo-dees".

"Why do deputies have to go make dirt specially?" Bananastar grumbled.

"Is this a joke?" Cookiehead asked. "Because then I could answer it! It's because-"

Bananastar grumbled. "No, you asked me when you would start your new deputy doo-dees. If you want, you could start them right now. Nobody's telling you you can't."

"Okay!" Cookiehead yelled. Then he rushed outside of the leader's den as quickly as a roadrunner. Bananastar sighed, relieved. He curled up to a patch of moss, and rested his head on his paws, hoping he could get some sleep to clear his thoughts.

Meanwhile, the new deputy was assigning patrols outside.

"Frightenedmouth, go on the hunting patrol with Macaronicheese, Dogeater, and Smellybutt," Cookiehead assigned.

Frightenedmouth gaped at her.

"Are you surprised?" Cookiehead asked. "Well, then perhaps you should go on patrols more often! Patrols are a fun place!"

"I hope I'll catch some macaroni and cheese," Macaronicheese told Dogeater and Frightenedmouth trotted over to the hunting patrol.

"Okay, the dawn patrol," Cookiehead said to himself. "Risinghead, Stupidface, and Serpentpaw. It'll be good for you to see more of the territory," he continued, turning to Serpentpaw.

Serpentpaw's paws hissed as he trotted over to his mentor, Stupidface.

"And maybe we should have a border patrol too," Cookiehead decided. He looked over the cats that remaned in the Clan. "Explodingface, Nicepaw, and Punycat. I know we have no other Clans here, but we need to check the borders in case Xadjsfbksdjfdskdhjfsfbjjjjjj jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjhgytrge riwjejweirijwiejrwkjdnsknsds tar comes back, or in case other cats decide to stroll in."

"Hooray!" shouted Nicepaw's paws.

"Hooray," said Nicepaw sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

There were only a couple cats left in the Clan. Cookiehead liked ordering cats around, so he trotted over to Redpaw, the only apprentice still in the Clan. "Hey, Redpaw, could you do me a favor?" Cookiehead asked.

"What?" Redpaw cheerily asked.

"Go clean Oldpelt's ticks and fetch moss for him," Cookiehead responded.

"Oh, all right," Redpaw meowed, trying to hide the disappointment in her voice. She grabbed some mouse bile from Stupidknowledge's den and walked over to the elders' den.

"I should check on Bananastar now," Cookiehead thought as he surveyed the cats in the Clan. "I hope he's feeling better."

Cookiehead trotted over to the leaders' den beneath the rock Bananastar made addresses from. He stepped through the lichen and stepped over to Bananastar. Sure as sure, Bananastar was still sitting there with his head on his paws. It was as if he hadn't moved at all. As if he was a statue.

"Bananastar, I'm done with my deputy duties," Cookiehead responded.

"Good," Bananastar replied. "I think I might just go outside now and stretch my legs. I've been cooped up here far too long." Bananastar got up, yawned while stretching his arms out, and then trotted outside, fresh air sweeping into the leaders' den for a brief second. Cookiehead lingered there for a brief moment, then stepped outside.

Bananastar was surveying the clearing from the top of the rock, puzzlement in his eyes. "Hmm..." he whispered, jumping down from the rock. He flashed a look at Cookiehead, who happened to be right next to him. "Cookiehead, why is there a significant decrease in the amount of cats in the camp?"

"I sent them all out on patrols," Cookiehead answered.

"You WHAT!" Bananastar exclaimed. His eyes literally popped out of his head as his gaze rested on Cookiehead. "There were a bunch of fox traps outside the camp! I was planning not to send anyone out for patrols in case they got caught in the fox trap and got hurt!"

"But you gave me permission to do my deputy duties," Cookiehead responded, confused.

"I gave you permission to do your deputy doo-dees," Bananastar answered.

"_Oh,_" Cookiehead said to himself. "So that's why you asked if a cat had to go make dirt specially."

"Of course!" Bananastar yowled. "Now, I just can't wait to see all the cats in Stupidknowledge's den after they all get out of the fox trap. I just can't wait." He rolled his eyes.

Suddenly, there was the sound of pawsteps outside the camp. Both Bananastar and Cookiehead's gaze flashed to the entrance. The pawsteps got louder until Macaronicheese finally entered, gasping for breath. She stumbled a few steps, then collapsed to the ground, panting heavily. "Bananastar...Cookiehead..."she heaved. "Fox traps...caught...I managed to escape but..." Macaronicheese fell down to the ground and stopped talking.

"Bananastar, you get Macaronicheese to Stupidknowledge's den," Cookiehead yowled, happy that she got to yell out orders for once. "I'll take care of the fox traps mishap. And Redpaw, you come with me."

Redpaw stepped out of the elders' den with a ball of moss in her mouth. She quickly dropped it, hearing what Cookiehead had said, and rushed over to her. "What happened?"

"Well, a bunch of cats were sent on a patrol and now they're caught in fox traps," Bananastar summarized. "Cookiehead and Redpaw, quick! We don't have all day!"

"Well, considering it's dawn-" Cookiehead started but was quickly interrupted by Bananastar, who was heaving Macaronicheese up by her scruff. "Go!"

Cookiehead quickly flashed her head around. She put weight on her paws and ran as fast as she could, Redpaw right beside her, tail to tail. As Cookiehead flashed out of the camp, she quickly dug her paws into the ground. Redpaw did the same. There were fox traps stretched all around the camp, and they were all filled with cats from CrazyClan. They were yowling, kicking, and moaning. Cookiehead gulped, her throat filled with guilt.

"Redpaw, you get the right side," Cookiehead ordered. "I get the left."

Cookiehead rushed to where the cats were in the fox trap. Her eyes flashed at once to Nicepaw, the trap clamped around her middle. Nicepaw's expression was angry, as usual, and her paws were swinging round and round. "Just leave me here," she growled, as Cookiehead looked at her. "I don't mind if I'm stuck here forever. At least I'll be away from that annoying Clan."

Cookiehead growled and rushed over to the next cat, who was Stupidface. The fox trap was nearly loose on her, because of her twelve-foot tall ears and trunk-like nose, the fox trap couldn't clamp on her body tight enough. Cookiehead, without a word, bit the loose tendril and pulled it apart. As soon as she did so, Stupidface flew through the air, making Cookiehead jump back. Stupidface landed in the camp, and Cookiehead heard a crash.

"I'm okay!" Stupidface yowled, muffled as if a ton of things were above her.

The next cat that was stuck in a fox trap was Risinghead. Cookiehead at first was surprised when she saw that he had no head and thought he had gotten severely hurt in the fox trap. Then she heard a noise behind her. She spun around, expecting to see Risinghead's head.

Nothing.

Cookiehead looked up.

Nothing.

Cookiehead looked to all sides of him.

Nothing.

"Risinghead, if you don't show your head _right now _I'll never be able to get you out of this darn fox trap!" Cookiehead yowled as loud as she could.

"Hi," a voice said.

Cookiehead jumped seven feet in the air and was surprised to see that Risinghead's head was stealthily watching her in a tree.

"Risinghead, you scared the waffles out of me!" Cookiehead shouted at Risinghead's head.

Risinghead's head couldn't suffer a giggle. "It was hillarious on its own! You should have seen how high you jumped!" Risinghead's head began to laugh uncontrollably.

Cookiehead growled in anger and stomped over to the fox trap. She clenched her teeth on a tight tendril and pulled as hard as she could. But the metal tendril slipped out of her teeth and she went flying backwards.

"Need any help?" Risinghead's head asked.

Cookiehead growled in anger and did not reply, stomping towards the fox trap and hoping to try again to untie the metal tendril.

"I'll take that as a yes," Risinghead's head mewed. It flew down towards the fox trap and clenched its teeth on the tendril that Cookiehead was holding on to. They both started pulling in unison. Cookiehead began grunting as the tendril moved farther, but as she got tired out, Risinghead's head backed her up. As soon as she thought they had got far enough, Cookiehead gave a strong pull and Risinghead's head flew out and sailed cleanly above the camp.

"I've heard of the phrase 'heads will roll', but not, 'heads will fly'," Stupidface joked.

Cookiehead sighed in anger. At least the fox trap was finally loose. Risinghead's body stepped out of the fox trap as Cookiehead stood silent, panting, and Risinghead's coordinating head flew down and reconnected with her body to form a normal cat.

"Thanks," Risinghead meowed. She dipped her head and walked towards the camp.

As soon as Cookiehead moved on to the next trap, she realized that _nobody _was in that fox trap. She shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, then I'll move on to the next one," she meowed.

But there was no one in that one either.

And the one after that. And the one after the one after that. And the one after the one after the one after that. And the one after the one after the one after that. And the one after the one after the one after the one after the one after that. Cookiehead looked relieved that she didn't have to take any more cats out of fox traps and risk humiliation. As she padded over to the camp entrance, she met up with Redpaw.

"How'd it go?" Redpaw asked.

"Fine," Cookiehead replied, thinking of everything that happened as she got the cats out the fox trap. "How'd it go with you?"

"Ditto," Redpaw answered. "It was quite a struggle to get Nicepaw out of the trap, though. She told me not to and that she'd prefer staying in there."

Cookiehead's eyes bulged as her body flowed with surprise. "Nicepaw's always like that. I think she doesn't want to live in this Clan at all."

"In this Clan?" Redpaw asked. "More like in this _life!_" She began laughing at her joke, and soon Cookiehead joined in.

"Well, enough talk over Nicepaw," Cookiehead told Redpaw. "We need to get back to camp."

As the two entered the camp, words of thanks and gratitude flowed over the camp. Stupidknowledge was sending Macaronicheese out of the medicine cat's den with a Band-aid and some sleep pills. Bananastar was glaring at Cookiehead as he entered the camp. Cookiehead caught Bananastar's look and shrugged his shoulders, but Bananastar continued looking at him. Cookiehead avoided the look and walked towards the fresh-kill pile. As she sat down to have a vole, she saw Nicepaw, paws over ears, crouched in a corner behind the apprentices' den, looking solemn. Cookiehead decided to see if he could cheer her up.

"Hey, Nicepaw!" Cookiehead happily mewed as he walked over to the apprentice. "How's everything going?"

Nicepaw didn't answer. A low growl rose in her throat and her tail swished. "Leave me alone," she mumbled, paws still over her ears.

"What was that again?" Cookiehead asked. "I wanted to see if I could cheer you up, since you're always so gloomy. Maybe you, me, and Dogeater could go and do battle training together?"

"Leave me _alone,_" Nicepaw meowed, slightly louder. Her claws unsheathed from her paws.

"Don't be so glum," Cookiehead asked. "I just want to know the problem. If you don't want to talk about it, that's fin-"

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Nicepaw yowled. She spun around and jumped at Cookiehead's throat, claws unsheathed. Cookiehead hopped back and fell to the ground as Nicepaw jumped on him. She held a paw at his throat and was ready to slice it across when a voice interrupted.

"Nicepaw, don't do this!" Nicepaw's paws pleaded. "What are you thinking? Don't get so angry with Cookiehead, he only wants to know what's wrong with you. You can't just-"

"SHUT UP!" Nicepaw yelled at her paws as she tried to slice her claws across Cookiehead's throat but missed and sliced his belly instead. Nicepaw growled and clamped around his ear, about to rip it off when she saw teeth clamp around her scruff. Nicepaw turned around and jumped at Dogeater, who was trying to calm Nicepaw down. Cookiehead jumped up in horror and scurried to Nicepaw, blood bleeding from his belly wound. Nicepaw growled even louder and yelled in anger. She slashed a blow across Dogeater's pelt before rushing out of the camp, screaming.

Dogeater and Cookiehead both looked at each other in silence, blood dripping from their wounds.

"I only wanted to know what was wrong," Cookiehead mumbled.


	4. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

"So, let me get this straight," the reader tells the leader. 'Bananastar thought you were unfit to be deputy, and so he appointed Cookiehead as deputy instead."

"Got it right so far," Xadjsfbksdjfdskdhjfsfbjjjjjj jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjhgytrge riwjejweirijwiejrwkjdnsknsds tar mewed, crackling sounds resulting as his paws crushed over dead leaves.

"And you got so angry that you left CrazyClan and became a loner until you discovered me," the reader continued. Before the leader could respond, the reader's voice got higher and it shouted, "And now you have this crazy idea to build your own Clan to get revenge on CrazyClan!"

"Completely correct," the leader mewed, winking at the reader. "It won't be that hard."

"It _will _be that hard!" the reader protested. "How will you collect a group of cats and form them all to make one big Clan, and then attack CrazyClan! Finding cats will be hard on its own!"

As if in response, a white she-cat with a bushy tail and green eyes suddenly appeared from a grove of thick, entwined trees. The leader smiled. "Now what did you say?"

The she-cat trembled, her haunches shivering. She slowly stepped backwards and unsheathed a pair of claws. Her eyes narrowed. "I-I'm p-prep-prepared to f-fight," she stammered, slowly stepping backwards.

"I don't want a battle," the leader mewed strongly. "What's your name?"

"I don't trust you!" the white she-cat mewed. "All you want to do is kill me! That's all! Mama told me about the cats who lived in the forest-"

"You're a kittypet?" the reader interrupted.

"Stay out of this!" the leader yowled. "We're not dangerous. In fact, we've been looking for cats. I'm planning to create a group of cats-a Clan-and together we can form an organized society. When we've done that, we can prepare to attack the other Clan in this forest-CrazyClan-and get revenge for what they have done to me. Do you want to join?"

The white cat stood there for a while, frozen. Then she leaped backwards. "I don't want any of your silly tricks! All you want to do is kill me! I'm leaving!" The she-cat ran off in fear, but before she had gotten five tail-lengths away, she turned around and the two species were still standing there.

"Y-you're not chasing me," she mewed. Her claws sheathed and she got closer.

"I'm not lying," the leader mewed. "Please tell me what your name is."

"Me?" the she-cat asked. "My name's Fluffy."

"My name's Xadjsfbksdjfdskdhjfsfbjjjjjj jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjhgytrge riwjejweirijwiejrwkjdnsknsds tar," the leader mewed. "Now, before you start laughing, I wasn't the one who chose my name, and it has a 'star' at the end of it because I was a Clan cat. And my friend here's name is 'the reader'."

Fluffy nodded, content. "So, you say you're looking for other cats to form a Clan?" she asked.

The leader nodded. "Yep. As many warriors as we can get."

"I know a whole group of them," Fluffy responded. "Six or seven, at least. They all hide in this alley behind my housefolks' nest, and they call themselves The Marshmellows. I never tried to venture over there, because I've been scared they'd be hostile, but I think you'd be able to convince them."

"Do you know anything else about...The Marshmellows?" the leader asked, barely holding back a laugh.

"Well, they do have a sort of leader," Fluffy told the two. "He's large and tall, with straight, muscled shoulders, he has lots of scars along his ragged, brown pelt, and he has piercing brown eyes. He also has very long claws. He looks dangerous, and I think he could kill all three of us in one swipe. When you try to reason with them, you better be careful. Oh, and before you leave, I think the leader's name is Spike."

The leader nodded, sastifacted. "Can you lead us to the alley?"

"Sure!" Fluffy exclaimed, and bounded off into the forest. Lush grass grew underpaw, and beautiful forest trees surrounded them. The leader could see a squirrel up in a tall tree and a vole eating some nuts. He could also see some herbs growing near a large, flowing river. Maybe this could be their territory, when they got one. It certainly looked nice, and water, prey, and herbs would be plentiful. Before the leader knew it, they had reached the Twolegplace. Fluffy was standing at the bottom of the fence.

"Are you going?" she asked. "I'm not."

"I'm not either," the reader replied. "Cats won't understand my language, and they'll attack me anyway."

"But I'm not going alone," the leader replied. "And if I die, I'm not dying alone. Plus, Fluffy, you need to prove your bravery."

There was a couple moments of silent. Then Fluffy sighed. "Fine. I hope you'll protect me well, the Marshmellows seem like a tough group."

The leader nodded. "Let's do this. The reader, can you open the fence for us?"

"Sure," the reader answered. It hopped down from where it was making strange noises with its mouth atop a rock and pulled a black thing. The fence swung open, and the alley was visible, darkened by the lack of light.

"I wish you good luck," the reader told the cats. As the two cats stepped into the alley, the fence swung close behind them. The leader could sense Fluffy's fear and he pressed his pelt against hers. "Come on. Follow me down this alley."

The two walked down the alley, and the leader noticed it was strangely silent. The Twoleg dens were quiet, and the Twoleg lights that were usually on were off. The ground beneath their paws wasn't grass, it was stone, hard stone. And the leaders' paws were beginning to ache. The leader suddenly began running, and made a left at a fork. Fluffy quitely told him in which directions to go, until he turned a corner and suddenly saw a pair of brown eyes staring right at them.

"Who are you?" the cat yowled, in a loud, booming voice.

"I'm Xadjsfbksdjfdskdhjfsfbjjjjjj jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjhgytrge riwjejweirijwiejrwkjdnsknsds tar," the leader mewed. "And this is Fluffy, one of my friends. We come to ask if you and your group could join another group we're trying to make. After we make it, we're going to attack one of these other groups so I could finally get revenge on their leader." He tried to make it as simple as possible.

"Oh, really?" the leader boomed. "I like attacking other groups. Especially a certain one with only two cats in it that look like they'd be good for dinner. I don't like annoying questions or talkative cats. _Nobody _in this group does." His claws unsheathed and pressed against the two's throats. "And you two look like you're some talkative cats."


	5. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

Nicepaw stormed outside, trying to get as far away from the camp as possible. She broke into a run and ran in multiple directions, here and there, across paths and down holes, up trees and into caves. As soon as she got tired, she began to rest. She probably was very far away from camp. The surroundings around her were rocky, and a mountain rose into the air. A small pool was nearby, and Nicepaw began lapping up some of the water, anger building up in her.

"You don't know where you are," Nicepaw's paws mewed. "You should get back to camp. They'll be worried about you."

"I thought I told you to _shut up_," Nicepaw growled. "Plus, they don't care about me anyway. They disturb me and always think I'm mean. I even heard them joking about me and then I got angry, but they kept pestering me on, so I had to attack them. I think I'd be better out here anyway, away from that stupid Clan."

Nicepaw looked up from the pool and realized that she could see a group of three cats running towards the mountains. A black one was drawing her paw over her ear, and a golden-colored one seemed to be yowling at her. Nicepaw moved closer.

"Make sure they don't see you," Nicepaw's paws warned.

"I don't care if I die," Nicepaw muttered.

"Quailfeather, this is no time for grooming," the golden-pelted cat mewed. "We need to find Mr. Therapist."

"We have time," Quailfeather replied, stretching her paws in a big yawn.

"No we don't," the golden-pelted cat rumbled. "We want Honeydew to be better as soon as possible."

"Now, now, Barktail, Quailfeather's right," a cat with a ragged gray pelt mewed in a soft, silky voice. "We can all rest and just have some prey before going up the mountain. We need energy to get up there, you know."

"What do you know about journeys anyway, Yewstorm?" Barktail growled, lashing his tail. "You're going to retire to the elders' den soon, anyway!"

Yewstorm shook her head, but did not reply. "Maybe it's for the best," she muttered, following Barktail and Quailfeather up the harsh mountain.

Nicepaw stealthily watched as they climbed up the mountain and disappeared into a small cave. "Who is this...Mr. Therapist?" she told herself. "He seems interesting..."

Before Nicepaw's paws could interrupt and tell her not to go, Nicepaw rushed up the mountain quickly and hopped into the cave after the three cats.

The three cats in front of her were staring at something. Nicepaw arced her head over theirs to see what they were staring at. They were gleaming at a black-and-white cat, his tail wrapped around his paws, his green eyes flashing. Glasses were perched on his nose, and a book was next to him, open to a faded yellow page.

"What do you three want from Mr. Therapist?" the black-and-white cat asked.

"Someone in our Clan, Honeydew, has problems with keeping her den clean," Barktail immediately meowed. "She ruins all of our days and she never bothers to get any new moss! Plus, we're almost up till past midnight trying to sleep! We thought you could calm her down."

"Easy job for Mr. Therapist," Mr. Therapist meowed dreamily. "Lead the way, and Mr. Therapist'll help your so-called Honeydew."

Nicepaw leaped out of the cave as soon as the four turned around and rushed back towards the pool where she had stationed. She watched the three, with Mr. Therapist in the lead, padding towards the opposite direction of where she was. Nicepaw sighed in relief.

"Maybe Mr. Therapist can help my Clanmates learn how to not disturb me," she meowed.

"Maybe Mr. Therapist can help you with your anger issues," Nicepaw's paws suggested.

"I don't need help..." Nicepaw mewed threatingly, her teeth clenched. "When Mr. Therapist returns, I'd like to take him to the Clan to see what he can do."

Stupidknowledge was looking for Band-aids when Cookiehead and Dogeater entered the den. "Yes?" she mewed, not looking up from her work.

"I have a belly wound and a torn ear," Cookiehead told the medicine cat. "Dogeater has a scratch on her flank that's bleeding."

"Yes..." Stupidknowledge meowed. "Well, as soon as I find these Band-aids you'll be good as new. For now, take a sleep pill." She motioned to a stack of pills next to the entrance to her den.

"How will sleep pills help injuries?" Dogeater protested.

"In case the wound gets worse, you'll be asleep when it happens," Stupidknowledge meowed like a know-it-all. "Oh, _there _were my Band-aids." She pulled out a white box with BAND-AIDS written on the top in red letters and stuck a paw inside. "Good StarClan, it's empty!"

Cookiehead slapped his face with his paw. "Don't you have any spare?"

"I'll check," Stupidknowledge told Cookiehead and began rummaging through her stuff again.

Two hours later, the whole mess of stuff was over the floor. "No more Band-aids," she mewed. "I'm sorry. I'll have to go and collect some from Mernards. Bye!" She bounded out of the camp and went through the bramble entrance.

Cookiehead looked through the stuff on the floor and found a metal hourglass. "Why is _this _in here?" he mewed.

"I don't know," Dogeater replied. "Maybe to keep track of time living?"

Cookiehead was about to put it down when the hourglass cracked open and a picture tumbled towards the two. Cookiehead picked it up and immediately turned to Dogeater. "It's a business card!"

"Who's it for?" Dogeater asked, peeking over at the card.

**MR. THERAPIST**

_**Therapy expert, Honors in medicine, very smart, always happy**_

_**Contact at cell: (1)-942-343-9981**_

_**Contact at home: (1)-942-878-8989**_

_**Email address: mrtherapist **_

"This Mr. Therapist seems like he'd be a good medicine cat," Cookiehead told Dogeater. "Plus, maybe he could cure Nicepaw's...problem."

Dogeater giggled. "The only question I have is, why was Mr. Therapist's card located in an hourglass inside Stupidknowledge's den?"

Cookiehead shrugged. "I'll try to see if I can contact Mr. Therapist on Bananastar's phone." Cookiehead rushed out of the den and came back a minute later, a cell phone in his paw. "Hold the card up."

As Dogeater held the card up, Cookiehead punched Mr. Therapist's cell number into the phone. _942. 343. 9981. _Then Cookiehead pressed the CALL button. The phone began vibrating as it began calling Mr. Therapist.

The phone rang for a couple more seconds. Then a voice went on. Cookiehead and Dogeater held their breath.

"Hello, this is Mr. Therapist. Mr. Therapist is busy at the time. Mr. Therapist is either teaching someone therapy, or performing therapy or someone, or maybe Mr. Therapist is just eating waffles, or maybe Mr. Therapist is too lazy to pick up the phone. Anyway, so that Mr. Therapist knows you called, leave a message after the meow. _Meow!_"

No one replied, not knowing what to say. After it finished, Dogeater was the first to speak. "Darn it! That was his answering machine!"

"I'll call him in an hour and see if he responds," Cookiehead replied solemnly, rushing out of the medicine den to return the phone to Bananastar.

Cookiehead rushed into the leaders' den and set the cell phone back down. "Here's your phone," he mewed, and then left the den.

Bananastar nodded, content. He was going to put the phone back in his cupboard when it began ringing. Bananastar jumped. No one usually called him, and he didn't have much people in his contacts. Bananastar looked at the number.

It was 942-343-9981.

"Who's that cat?" Bananastar meowed, rolling his eyes, not answering the phone. The second time it rang, he didn't answer either. But the _third _time it rang Bananastar was forced to answer.

"Hello?" he gruffly meowed into the phone.

"This is Mr. Therapist. I suppose you called? Mr. Therapist wants to know what you want, so can you please tell Mr. Therapist? Thank you."

Bananastar's eyes popped out of his head in horror.

"COOKIEHEAD AND DOGEATER WHO IS THIS GUY NAMED MR. THERAPIST?" Bananastar yelled, rushing towards the two like a cheetah.

"Did he answer?" Cookiehead asked. "Good. Give me the phone." Bananastar handed over the phone and Cookiehead began talking on it, Bananastar listening to what Cookiehead said.

"Oh, yes. We live in a secluded area with a nice river, near a housefolk nest. Yes, I think there is mountains nearby. Oh, we want you because we need a better medicine cat, and there's someone in this Clan who might need therapy. Yes. Good. Oh, you don't have to live in that cliff anymore, here its much more comfortable and there's plenty of room. Yes, I will buy a comfy chair and everything you need, we have a Mernards close by. You'll still be able to visit other people, you're not just gonna be cooped up here. Yes. Thank you. Bye. See you later." Cookiehead hung up and gave the phone to Bananastar, pouring out everything that he knew about Mr. Therapist.

"I suppose a new medicine cat is plausible," Bananastar added when Cookiehead had finished. "Plus, Nicepaw does need to work on her anger issues. I'm perfectly fine with Mr. Therapist coming over. Oh, and by the way, where is Stupidknowledge?"

As if in reply, Stupidknowledge went through the barrier, two boxes of Band-Aids in her mouth. Before she could enter the den, Bananastar nodded his head. "Stupidknowledge, I need to talk to you."

"Sure!" Stupidknowledge exclaimed. "Just let me drop these Band-Aids." She dropped the Band-Aids in the den and rushed towards Bananastar, who led her towards his den.

A couple minutes later, Stupidknowledge stepped out, crying. "Y-you mean, y-you're r-r-replacing m-me?" she mewed between sobs.

"Of sorts," Bananastar replied. "Mr. Therapist just seems like a better medicine cat, that's all. Plus, he knows therapy."

"B-but, I've always been the sole medicine cat," Stupidknowledge muttered. "Where will I go after this?"

"I'm afraid you'll have to resign as medicine cat and learn to become a warrior," Bananastar told Stupidknowledge. "I'll have your apprentice ceremony and decide your mentor soon." Bananastar hopped into his den and Stupidknowledge went towards the fresh-kill pile between sobs.

"I kind of overheard some of the things that happened," Redpaw told Stupidknowledge betbites of vole. "So, Mr. Therapist will be the new medicine cat and you're going to be downgraded to an apprentice?"ween

"Exactly," Stupidknowledge solemnly mewed. "I'll be named Stupid_paw_, and I'll have to learn how to be a warrior. I don't _want _to be a warrior! I want to be a medicine cat!"

"Look on the bright side," Redpaw tried to cheer Stupidknowledge up. "You'll be training with me."

"You don't understand," Stupidknowledge mumbled. "Being a medicine cat is my _life_! I don't want to be an apprentice and train to be a warrior. I might as well just retire to the elders' den."

Redpaw touched noses with Stupidknowledge. "Don't worry. In your heart, you'll always be a true medicine cat. You won't be able to treat other cats, but you can buy the supplies from Mernards still. And I bet even you have to agree, Mr. Therapist might be better than you."

Stupidknowledge let out a large wail that sent all the cats looking at her.

"I'm sorry," Redpaw mewed, her eyes and emotions filled with sorrow and grief for the medicine cat-the ex-medicine cat, at least.

As Redpaw looked over Stupidknowledge, the cats began to hear noises coming from the entrance. They spun their heads around and looked at who was entering the camp.

A black-and-white cat with green eyes stepped into the camp happily, his eyes scanning the camp. He could see how happy they all looked, except for the cat near the prey. But maybe he could cheer him up. This was, after all, his job. The cat looked around, but no one meowed, so he decided to start the conversation.

"Mr. Therapist is here," the cat meowed. "May you show me to my den?"


	6. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

Both Xadjsfbksdjfdskdhjfsfbjjjjjj jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjhgytrge riwjejweirijwiejrwkjdnsknsds tar and Fluffy were shivering as the leader of The Marshmellows held his claws to their throats. The leader gulped and tried to speak. "Wait! I'm not trying to disturb you!"

"You're not trying, but you are," the cat growled in anger.

"All I want is to ask you a simple question, and then I'll leave you alone," the leader stammered.

"Fine," the cat growled regretingly, and unsheathed his claws. "But it better be only one question, or else you _both _get it."

"Will you join a group of cats I am trying to make?" the leader asked. "We'll form it socially, and then we'll attack a nearby group so I can get revenge. So, will you?"

The cat thought for a moment. "I've always lived in this alley. We've always scavenged for our food and fought with other cats. Maybe this place will be better."

"It will be," the leader tried to convince. "There's a nice river flowing, and prey, herbs, and water are plentiful. There is lush grass underneath and plenty of good spaces to rest and have a sunning. It'll be perfect."

The tom nodded. "The Marshmellows have always been rough, fighting for survival. But if we join a group, we can live plentifully, and still be able to have battles. Great idea. My name's Spike. Wait here while I get the rest of my group." Spike rushed off down the alley, prepared to get the rest of The Marshmellows.

"Great reasoning," Fluffy purred happily.

"It was nothing," the leader told the kittypet, trying to ignore her obvious sign of affection.

It was very quick when Spike returned with seven bulky cats behind him. He smiled and pointed his paws to all of them. "The Marshmellows, meet Fluffy and...?"

"Xadjsfbksdjfdskdhjfsfbjjjjjj jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjhgytrge riwjejweirijwiejrwkjdnsknsds tar," the leader replied. "Just call me 'the leader', for short."

Spike nodded. "Fluffy and the leader, these are Toto, Toffee, Randolph, Rudolph, Snibble, Quail, and Utle." The first cat, Toto, glared at Fluffy with a menacing look. Toto's black pelt was covered with scars and he had two potruding sharp teeth. Toto looked as if he didn't agree at all with their idea, but had to follow because Spike was their leader. Spike nodded as the seven introduced each other.

"I'm Rudolph," a brown-pelted tom with dark brown eyes purred. "It's very nice to meet you, Fluffy."

"You too," Fluffy told Rudolph.

"Hey, the leader!" a white-pelted she-cat with some brown around her neck and on her ears exclaimed. "I'm Quail! I'm a very good hunter, and I suppose it'll be even easier with such plentiful ground!"

"I'm a good hunter too," the leader told Quail.

"Quail, come on, the cats are getting ready to leave," a cat meowed from behind Quail. The leader tipped his head. "Who's that?"

"Oh, that's Snibble, my mate," Quail answered, staring lovingly at the brown-pelted tom with blue eyes. They nuzzled and walked over to the line of gathering cats.

But one cat the leader couldn't help but want to avoid was Toto, looking at the leader evily with piercing green eyes. He looked as if he would tear the leader to shreds if he had the chance, and that he could even kill Spike just to achieve ambition. But the leader looked away before he could look into Toto's scary gaze any longer.

Soon, the group of ten cats reached the fence. "May I take the lead?" Toto's voice piped from behind Spike.

Spike jumped, looking surprised. "All right," he meowed. "But as soon as we get out of these rocks, we'll let the leader take the lead."

Toto nodded contendely. They walked up to the fence and the ten cats heaved up onto the fence, pushing in unison with their paws to get the fence to open quickly. When they least expected it, the fence swung open and the ten cats stepped out. Toto was the first to yell out a cry.

"Twoleg!" Toto yelled. Spike looked at the Twoleg in surprise and the eight cats in The Marshmallows let out a cry and leaped at a Twoleg. The leader was about to join the battle when, suddenly, he realized who that Twoleg actually was.

The reader.

"NO!" Fluffy and the leader both yelled in unison. "He's my friend! You can't attack him!" The leader hopped towards Spike and pushed the reader away from an impending blow. Blood was welling on the readers' shirt. "Help me!" it yelled.

"STOP!" the leader yelled. Everybody kept fighting. "_STOP!_" he yelled even louder, but they seemed to keep on fighting. "That Twoleg is my friend, and he was with me!"

Spike stopped dead when he heard the leader cry, but Toto kept fighting. He jumped at the reader and pinned him down. He unsheathed his claws and was about to deliver a killing blow.

"Toto!" Spike yelled, swinging Toto away with a clawswipe. "That Twoleg is the leader's friend, and we can't harm him." Spike turned to the leader and dipped his head. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," the leader mewed. "You're fine, aren't you?" he asked the reader.

"Totally fine," the reader answered. "The bleeding stopped. We've got ten cats so far, so let's keep looking."

"No, I think we've got enough for a small Clan by now," the leader protested. "I'll organize everything when we get there. Follow me," he told the rest of the cats as he entered the deep forest where their territory was.

The leader, getting deeper into the forest, sniffed the air happily as the river ran next to them. Birds were chattering in the air, and prey was scurrying on the ground. Suddenly, the leader stopped and looked at a small clearing, overhung by five trees. There were several caves in it, and a small tree was in the clearing. It seemed perfect for a camp. The river was close, and the tree would be the message area. The caves could be dens, and the big one would be the leaders' den. It all planned out perfectly. "Come on," the leader motioned, and bounded into the camp.

Everybody seemed excited, except, the leader knew, one cat who would do anything to make the other cats _not _excited. Toto glared and curled his lips as he entered the camp, and he shot a tight, evil glance at the leader as he jumped onto one of the branches on the small tree.

"All cats of OtherClan join beneath the Message Tree for a Clan meeting!" the leader yowled. _OtherClan. _It seemed like a fitting name, since they were the only other Clan in the forest.

But to Toto, OtherClan was not only not a fitting name, it was not a fitting _life_.


	7. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5**

It had been a moon since Mr. Therapist had arrived and took position as medicine cat. During that time, Nicepaw had returned, surprised that Mr. Therapist had came along too. Nonetheless, Nicepaw still usually spent time in solitude, getting angry whenever a cat crept up on her. Along with that, Stupidknowledge had been downgraded to an apprentice named Stupidpaw, with Smellybutt as her mentor. Mr. Therapist usually spend most of his time in his den, everything neatly organized and ready in case someone came. One fine morning, Mr. Therapist was eating waffles and jam at his table while the rest of the Clan was munching on fresh-kill outside. Today, Mr. Therapist planned to look into Nicepaw and see how she was doing.

"Okay, Stupidpaw, Nicepaw, Smellybutt, Dogeater, and Risinghead, you can go on a hunting patrol," Cookiehead assigned. "Macaronicheese, Punycat, Picknose, and Frightenedmouth, you can go on a border patrol."

"Aw, but today I wanted to do battle training!" Stupidpaw whined to her mentor, Smellybutt.

A bad smell emenated from Smellybutt's butt. "Well, Cookiehead assigned us to hunting, so you have to follow his instructions."

The patrol was getting ready to line up. Smellybutt was lined up next to his apprentice, Stupidpaw, and Risinghead and Dogeater stood side by side. Suddenly, Dogeater noticed something. "Hey!" she exclaimed. "Where's Nicepaw?"

Mr. Therapist, hearing the word Nicepaw, leapt out of his den and caught Nicepaw's black pelt. She was crouched behind the apprentices' den, paws over ears again, just how she had been the day Cookiehead and Redpaw had rescued the cats from the fox traps.

"Mr. Therapist thinks Nicepaw is over there," Mr. Therapist told Dogeater, pointing with his tail towards where Nicepaw lay, solemn.

Dogeater sighed. "She's always like that nowadays. She never wants anyone to disturb her, and always has her paws clamped over her ears. Once, Cookiehead was trying to talk to her and Nicepaw attacked him and me."

"Mr. Therapist thinks Nicepaw has some serious anger issues," Mr. Therapist responded. "Maybe later today Mr. Therapist could meet her in my den."

"Sure," Dogeater responded. "I'll go and try to get her."

Dogeater walked over to Nicepaw, but wasn't surprised to get the same reply she got every day: "Leave me alone." Dogeater knew she shouldn't try to force her, but if Nicepaw wasn't going on the patrol, she wasn't going either. "Cookiehead," she mewed. "Its Nicepaw again. You have to assign other cats for the patrol."

"I chose her specifically to see how she was doing," Cookiehead replied. "She's still staying there, and now she can't even go on patrol. I really think Mr. Therapist should meet up with her later in the day."

"Mr. Therapist thought that too," Dogeater told him. "It's getting in the way of her apprentice duties. She'll never become a warrior at this rate!"

"All right," Cookiehead sighed. "Explodingface and Laughingmouth, come to the hunting patrol."

"Oka-BOOM!" a sound seemed to come from Explodingface.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA," Laughingmouth chortled, rolling on the floor, bursts of laughs coming from his mouth and tears rolling down his eyes. He continued laughing until he realized that everybody was staring at him.

"Sorry," he mumbled, staring at his paws. "It comes and goes."

"Mr. Therapist needs to have a session with him too," Mr. Therapist meowed.

"It comes naturally," mewed his mother, Brokenspine. "It's why I named him Laughingkit."

"Let's stop wasting time!" Cookiehead yowled. "All the patrols are out already! Let's go! Move it, move it!"

The patrol quickly bounded out of the camp, hoping for good hunting. Only a couple cats were left in the camp, including Mr. Therapist.

Mr. Therapist looked at Nicepaw, who was still bending down. He looked at her for a long time, studying her looks. Then he walked back into his den.

Meanwhile, out on the patrol, Stupidpaw was eagerly watching Serpentpaw. His paws were silent as he crept up on a vole that was chewing on a large nut. Suddenly, in one quick, fast movement, Serpentpaw leaped up and his paws crashed down on the vole, breaking its spine.

"Great job!" complimented Laughingmouth.

"Now, Stupidpaw, see what you can scent," Smellybutt meowed.

Stupidpaw sniffed the air eagerly. The smell of delicious squirrel was in the air. "I smell...squirrel?" she asked questiongly.

"Good," Smellybutt replied. "Try catching it."

The squirrel was in some leaves at the bottom of the tree, about to climb its way up. Stupidpaw raised her haunches and slowly crept towards the squirrel. As she did, her paws crunched on some dead leaves and the squirrel saw her, racing up the tree faster than you could say 'Slenderman'.

"I'm horrible," Stupidpaw moaned. "I'm no use as a warrior. I was always better as a medicine cat."

"Don't say that," Smellybutt replied. "You're just used to the way of the medicine cats, and you've only just became an apprentice. With time, you'll get better."

Serpentpaw walked towards Stupidpaw, a thrush in his jaws. At the thought that Serpentpaw had caught two pieces of prey all by himself, Stupidpaw started moaning again.

"Stupidpaw, I can sense a mouse," Serpentpaw meowed to his denmate. "You want to try and catch it?"

Stupidpaw nodded. She closed her eyes and relaxed her muscles. Slowly, but surely, she crept quietly towards the mouse that was hidden in some leaves. Stupidpaw tried not to touch any dead leaves, and finally the mouse was in sight. She leaped up into the air but the prey scurried away before she caught it and Stupidpaw landed flat on her face.

"Make sure the prey doesn't see your shadow, so don't leap too high," Smellybutt instructed. "It's useful if you're in a dark area, because then when you jump your shadow is hidden, and you can hide easily."

"But we're not in a dark area!" Stupidpaw protested. She humphed at the fact that she had caught nothing. "I wish Mr. Therapist had never even come!"

By the end of the hunting session, Serpentpaw had caught three pieces of prey, and Stupidpaw had caught _nothing_. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Not a piece. Less than one, before negative one. That dreaded number that wasn't even an actual number. Stupidpaw sighed and rested her head on her paws. "Maybe I _am _stupid," she told herself.

"You don't know how _I _feel," Nicepaw growled at Stupidpaw. "You think that you're an apprentice and you're doing horribly. Well, _I _feel much worse. How does it feel to have every cat laugh at you, and think you have anger issues, and talk about you behind your back, and hire a therapist just for you! It feels horrible, that's what!" She bared her teeth at Stupidpaw. "That's why I'm never leaving from this spot again."

"I can see what you mean," Stupidpaw mumbled. "If you don't want to talk, I understand."

"And my paws, always trying to cheer me up," Nicepaw grumbled. "My paws are total idiots. It's a miracle they're not interrupting this conversation!"

"I heard you," said Nicepaw's paws.

"I totally pity you," meowed Stupidpaw. Her fur pressed against Nicepaw's, but she did not respond. "And everyone knows cats with black pelts and yellow eyes are _bad luck_," she continued.

From then on, Stupidpaw decided that somehow, Nicepaw would have to move from that spot. Everybody kind of hated her, and Stupidpaw understanded why she was so solemn, but she could never learn just cooped up in that spot. A nice, comfy day, Stupidpaw walked over to Nicepaw to have a chat with her, but suddenly saw Mr. Therapist heading the same way. Stupidpaw quickly jumped back.

"Mr. Therapist thinks it's a beautiful day," Mr. Therapist meowed to Nicepaw. "Do you want to come to Mr. Therapist's den and have some waffles and jam with Mr. Therapist?"

"_Leave_," Nicepaw grumbled. "I _know _what you're trying to do."

"Do you feel that way?" Mr. Therapist asked. "Mr. Therapist just wants to have a little talk with you."

"Haven't you learned a lesson from what happened with Cookiehead and Dogeater?" she yowled, slightly louder.

Mr. Therapist looked at Nicepaw for a moment, then padded off somewhere. When he returned, he was with Bananastar on one flank, and Cookiehead on the other.

"StarClan, no..." Nicepaw groaned.

"Nicepaw, _please _go to Mr. Therapist's den," Bananastar pleaded. "It'll only be for a short while. Five minutes."

Nicepaw didn't respond.

"Four?"

Nicepaw didn't respond.

"Three? Two? _One? _A very short time. Just please, come on."

"FINE!" Nicepaw yelled at Bananastar, baring her teeth. She realized her anger issues had come to her and slowly stepped backwards, looking at Mr. Therapist. "Okay, I'll come with you."

"Mr. Therapist is happy," Mr. Therapist replied. Mr. Therapist padded over to the medicine cats' den, where a chair was set up. A hypnotising ball was set on a table.

"What are you going to do to me?" Nicepaw asked.

"Mr. Therapist asks that you sit down on this chair," Mr. Therapist mewed as Nicepaw sat down. "Now just sit still, and follow this hypnotising ball with your eyes." Mr. Therapist picked up the hypnotising ball and swung it from side to side, side to side. Nicepaw's eyes followed it slowly.

"You are getting happy...very, very happy..." Mr. Therapist mewed. "From now on, you will be happy and always ready to work. You will have no anger issues, and the whole of your body will be nice, instead of just your paws. When Mr. Therapist says 'BOO!' you will wake up. Ready...BOO!"

Nicepaw woke up. "Oh. That was nice." She hopped off the chair and slowly stepped out of the medicine cats' den. "Have a nice day, Mr. Therapist!"

Dogeater looked at Smellybutt. She slowly whispered, staring at Nicepaw, "Did Nicepaw just say...have a nice day?"

"Yes," Smellybutt meowed, frightened.

"Hey, Serpentpaw, how's your day going?" Nicepaw asked.

"Fine, thank yo-what?" Serpentpaw's mouth dropped open.

"I'll take that as it's going great." Nicepaw had a big smile on her face. "Come on, Stupidpaw, let's ask Bananastar if we can go hunting!"

"All right," Stupidpaw meowed. She realized that Nicepaw had suddenly become nice, and she did not have anger issues anymore. As she followed Stupidpaw to Bananastar, she wondered what exactly Mr. Therapist had done.

"Bananastar said yes," Nicepaw told Stupidpaw. "But our mentors have to come with us. Hey, Dogeater, Smellybutt! Come on and hunt with us!"

Stupidpaw smiled. Had it just been a couple minutes ago that Nicepaw was sad and gloomy about the way she was treating her? Thirty seconds at Mr. Therapists' had changed her life, making her extremely happy and ready to roll. A frightening thought came to Stupidpaw's mind.

Maybe Mr. Therapist _was _a better medicine cat than she would've been.


	8. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 6**

"Fluffy, from this moment on you shall be known as Fluffyfur. StarClan honors your bravery and determindness, and best wishes to be a great deputy." The leader of OtherClan touched noses with his newly appointed deputy, Fluffyfur. As soon as he had hopped onto the Meeting Tree, he had began appointing warrior names to his new group. It was an interesting task, and the leader smiled now that he was one step forward to destroying CrazyClan once and for all!

"Spike, step forward," the leader meowed.

Spike stepped forward, looking behind at The Marshmellows, who all gazed back at him. Except Toto, who still had his curled lip and was staring evily at the leader, as if he would jump at him right now and slit his throat open.

"Spike, from this moment on, you shall be known as Pointedpelt. StarClan honors your courage and rage to defend, and OtherClan wishes you will be a great warrior." The leader touched noses with Pointedpelt as he went back into the crowd.

This went on for a while. Randolph was named Thrushclaw, Rudolph was named Brownwing, Toffee was named Whitesquare, Snibble was named Graytooth, Quail was named Quailbird, and Utle was named Woodtooth. At last, the only person left to recieve a warrior name was Toto. The leader knew this would be trouble, so as he called Toto forward, he braced himself for attack. But when Toto stepped forward, no one was hurt.

The leader began to calm down a bit as he spoke the words of the warrior ceremony. "Toto, from this moment on you should be known as Blackleap. StarClan honors your-"

"Wait a little second," Blackleap growled, staring at the leader.

OtherClan gasped, and the leader felt a little scared. Blackleap _dared _to interrupt his leader, and right in the middle of the ceremony? Plus, this was a perfect chance for Blackleap to attack and try and take down the leader to rule OtherClan.

"I think the warrior name Blackleap doesn't suit me," Blackleap meowed.

The leader began glaring at Blackleap, knowing that he was just saying this to get a chance to interrupt the warrior ceremony and cause chaos. "Then what do you think _does _suit you?" he meowed.

"I'd, if you'd allow it, very much like to remain as Toto," Blackleap told his leader.

The leader sighed in relief. Blackleap hadn't protested anything, or attacked him right in front of the Clan. "Very well. Toto, from this moment on you shall be known as Toto. StarClan honors your strength and determination, and we hope you be a great warrior." As Toto stepped down from the Meeting Tree contentedly, the leader wondered if he had underistimated Toto.

_No. _Toto had glared at him evily, and had attacked the reader-his _friend_ -even when he told them to stop. Toto must have had some evil plan behind him, and there must have been something behind himself interrupting his warrior ceremony and choose his own warrior name.

As the leader leapt down from the Meeting Tree, someone tapped him on the shoulder. "Yes?" he answered, turning around, seeing the reader.

"I'd like to ask you something," the reader told the leader.

"Ask away," the leader replied, stretching out his arms.

"Where do we all sleep?" the reader asked. "Most of all, me. I wouldn't fit in the warriors' den."

"Oh," the leader realized. "Well, do you see that cave over there with branches and brambles hanging over it? That's the warriors' den. The smaller one right next to that is the apprentices' den. The one left of the warriors' den, the big one, that's the nursery. All the way on the other side of the camp is the elders' den. You'll sleep there."

"And what about the medicine cat's den?" the reader asked.

"That'll be the one in the corner, blocked by that scorched tree," the leader told the reader. "Oh, and I forgot to appoint a medicine cat. Let me ask Quailbird if she'll be happy to help." The leader rushed off.

"Hey, Quailbird!" he yelled. "Do you want to be medicine cat?"

Quailbird looked lovingly at her mate, Graytooth. "Oh, all right. Sure."

"Your den's the one by that scorched tree in the corner," the leader told Quailbird. "Good luck." As she padded away, the leader did too. He was happy he had finally formed an organized society, that was very close to becoming a Clan of its own. _Unless it's destroyed by Toto, _the leader said to himself, watching Toto, still standing there, with his curled lip. His brown eyes stared right at the leader.

_What evil plans would he ever have in mind? _the leader asked himself. Then, to his surprise, Toto began walking straight towards him, his lip still curled. Toto moved very close to the leader, and whispered words into his ear. "Listen, leader, I will not let you destruct the Marshmellows or any other group. I never wanted to come here in the first place. Now stay out of my way, and stop staring at me."

_Stop staring at _me, the leader wanted to say, but couldn't. With a brisk nod of his head, the leader padded over to his den. _So _that's _what he wants, _the leader thought, lying down as if getting ready to sleep. _He just despises OtherClan and wishes for the Marshmellows to reform. Well, that won't happen. Pointedpelt's already decided that this is where he'd stay, and I don't think Toto would ever be able to convince him. _

That night, the leader was unable to sleep. Thoughts of Toto filled his mind, and he knew that any second Toto could wake up and attack the Clan. It was way past moonhigh when the leader was finally able to fall asleep, and so he did not get much rest. The leader woke up, stretching his arms over his head. He was exhausted, and so he went back to sleep. The next time he woke up, he padded out into the Clan clearing to see that it was empty.

_Good, _the leader wondered. _My thoughts can wander in peace._

But not for long. As soon as the leader had began thinking, Brownwing padded out of the warriors' den. "That probably was the most restful sleep I've had in _ages_," Brownwing meowed, yawning. "I thought today I could explore the area near CrazyClan. When the day comes to attack them, we'll need to know the territory well."

"Great idea, Brownwing," the leader mentioned. "The attack date won't come for a long time, until we get enough warriors. But we'll need to be ready."

Brownwing nodded and padded out of the camp. The leader nodded his head contentedly and padded back off to his den.

Brownwing, padding around the areas of the camp, was half searching, half looking, for anything that CrazyClan could be hiding. As he padded around, looking for something useful, the thought came to his mind what exactly did the leader want revenge on? Did they once do something bad to him? Did he want to take over the forest? Were his parents once abusive? Whatever the case, it must have been something strong.

After another hour of searching, Brownwing had found nothing except stacks of herbs and some sticks. It seemed as if CrazyClan was hiding nothing useful. Brownwing was about to pad back to the camp when he realized-he didn't know where the camp was. He had gotten so carried away with finding something that CrazyClan had hidden that he didn't know where the camp was.

_Mouse-brain! _Brownwing said to himself. _The leader needs valuable warriors like you._

Suddenly, an idea popped in Brownwing's head. _I know the camp is to the right, so maybe I could follow the river to find the camp! Yes! _Brownwing padded over next to the river and began running, barely matching the run of the eager river. Brownwing continued running, not looking around him and feeling cool air rise over his haunches and legs. Suddenly, Brownwing heard noises. _OtherClan!_

Brownwing looked around, scanning for the camp hollow. He didn't see nothing, so he continued running forward until he realized the river came to a sharp turn. _I never saw this before, _Brownwing said to himself. _Is this the way to the camp? Oh, well. Maybe I wasn't paying attention._

But as Brownwing turned the bend, he saw nothing that looked like the camp _at all. _It was a large building, colored in blue and white. Two doors stood side by side, but no one was entering them. A large window let light flow through, and a strong metal sign stuck out of the building by a long pole. On it was written in blue and white letters: MERNARDS.

_What has CrazyClan been hiding from us? _Brownwing asked himself, as he padded inside.


	9. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7**

"Congratulations, Frightenedmouth," Cookiehead mewed, giving Frightenedmouth a little nudge. "The camp will be welcomed with new arrivals, and plus, we have no kits at the moment. I'm sure Laughingmouth must be very excited." Cookiehead took a little glance at the center of the camp.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHA," Laughingmouth yowled, rolling on the ground hysterically, tears streaming out of his eyes. He was humping up and down, up and down as laughs chortled out of his mouth. He banged his paw on the ground twice, still laughing.

Cookiehead gave a little chortle and then walked away from the queen. "Well, good luck, Frightenedmouth. Remember, they'll be a valuable addition to the Clan." Cookiehead sighed and walked away from the nursery. Frightenedmouth recently had been spending a lot of time with Laughingmouth since Nicepaw had been cured. The whole Clan was suspecting that they'd become mates, it was more than obvious. And now Frightenedmouth had moved to the nursery, with a new litter of kits to be expected. _Mr. Therapist has been here quite a while, _Cookiehead said to himself. _I hope he'll know how to deliver kits._

"Mr. Therapist probably won't know," Stupidpaw mentioned, as if reading Cookiehead's thoughts. "Do you think I could help him during the kitting?"

Cookiehead thought it over for a while. "If you want, yes," he meowed. "It's Frightenedmouth's first litter, and we don't want her kits to die because they were delivered the wrong way. It'd be great if you'd help Mr. Therapist. How is Nicepaw doing, anyway?"

"Oh, perfect," Stupidpaw said. "She's got over her anger issues, and she's perfectly nice. The other day Serpentpaw had a sprained paw and she was more than happy to help. Mr. Therapist is pretty useful, don't you think?" A lump was in Stupidpaw's throat as she said that. _She _would have been that useful medicine cat!

"Glad to hear it," Cookiehead meowed. "Well, I'll need to be off now. Bye!" Cookiehead gave a departing nod to Stupidpaw and bounded away, towards the directions of the apprentices' den, hoping to see Nicepaw. Instead, he saw Serpentpaw, bouncing up and down, giddy with excitement.

"Serpentpaw, how's it going?" Cookiehead asked. "Um, do you know-"

"Stupidface said that I'll be competing in my final warriors' assessment soon!" Serpentpaw yowled. "What do you think my warrior name will be? Serpentstrike? Serpenttail? Serpenthiss?"

"Oh, that's great, Serpentpaw," Cookiehead meowed excitedly. "But I was just going to ask you, do you know where Nicepaw is?"

"Oh, I think I saw her out on a hunting patrol," Serpentpaw meowed. "She'll be back in a couple minutes. Anyway, aren't _you _excited! Maybe when you become leader, I could be your deputy and we could rule the Clan!" Serpentpaw flashed a big smile.

"_If _I become leader," Cookiehead meowed. "Bananastar's still got many moons in him to go." Cookiehead dipped his head to Serpentpaw and walked over to the other edge of the camp, where the Mernards entrance was. Cookiehead looked up, straining his eyes to see the Mernards several foxlengths away, where the river came rushing by, and the noise rumbled as if to drive off intruders. As Cookiehead looked up, waiting, he saw what seemed like a cat heading towards the entrance.

_A cat! _Cookiehead exclaimed. _What _cat _is out at Mernards at this time? I'll need to investigate. _Cookiehead narrowed his eyes and rushed through the entrance that led to Mernards, furiousness in his paws and excitement in his eyes. Cookiehead took bounds as he rushed through the brambles, getting it snagged on his fur, and leaped up and down, knocking dead leaves and grass everywhere. After a couple of runs, Cookiehead could see the river, and instead of bothering to the take the bridge, Cookiehead took a leap, hoping to fly across the river and land right on his feet to continue running.

Instead, he landed smack in the water and a wave flew out, soaking him and drenching him from the tip of his ears to the end of his tail.

"Ew!" Cookiehead exclaimed, brushing a wad of slimy green stuff off his pelt. Cookiehead padded to the edge of the shore and shook his pelt, water flying everywhere, but his pelt was still wet. "Curse that darn river!" Cookiehead growled, before resuming his run. The Mernards was getting closer, and soon he could see the building loom up before him. As soon as the double doors got in sight, Cookiehead took a sharp turn and ran straight into them. As they opened and closed, the deputy ran straight into the many aisles of Mernards. Candy was on one shelf, saws on the other. Toothbrushes on one, fresh-kill on another. Mernards was perfect, but the one sign of imperfectness was the fact it would be hopeless to ever find a cat in here.

_Or not. _Cookiehead turned to the right and saw a brown-pelted tom standing at the edge, his brown eyes wide in awe. Cookiehead ran towards the tom without a tom, leaped, and landed on him, crushing the breath all out of him. Before the tom could get a word in, Cookiehead unsheathed his claws. "Who are you?" he growled evily.

"I-I'm-I'm Brownwing," the tom stammered.

"Brownwing, eh?" Cookiehead asked. "That's a strange name. Yet it's a warrior name. Where are you from?"

"That's none of your business," Brownwing growled. "I'll fight you if I have to. You're a CrazyClan warrior, aren't you?"

"I might be, I might not," Cookiehead growled. "What are you doing here?"

"I-I-I found it," Brownwing stammered. "And-and I was e-exploring."

"It all sounds like fish paste to me," Cookiehead retorted. "I don't know any other groups of cats around here, and this is _our _Menards."

"_Your _Menards?" Brownwing growled. "Who ever laid claim to _this _territory? I don't see any scent marks on it!"

"We don't need to, it's in _our _territory," Cookiehead explained, exasperated.

"So you are in CrazyClan, are you?" Brownwing meowed smugly.

"Shut up," Cookiehead retorted, having nothing else better to say. "You aren't worth killing." Cookiehead stepped backwards and sheathed his claws.

Brownwing sighed in relief and shook his pelt. "So what _is _your name?" the cat asked.

"Cookiehead," the deputy replied. "But I'm not telling you anything else."

"Me neither," Brownwing humphed. "But this isn't just _your _Mernards, it's any cat's territory."

"Not only any cat's," Cookiehead meowed. "It's also home to Twolegs."

"Like the one that's behind you and is about to pull you up by your scruff," Brownwing helpfully commentated.

"WHAT?!" Cookiehead screamed. He spun around and saw a short twoleg with a blue and white smock on reaching towards him. Cookiehead unsheated his claws and sliced them across the Twoleg's leg, making it bleed. As the Twoleg stood there, awkwardly hopping on one leg and holding his injured foot with the other, Cookiehead rushed towards the other end of the store. "RUN!" he yelled hopefully at Brownwing.

As the two ran towards the dairy aisle, the Twoleg shouted some gibberish that the cats didn't understand. Almost immediately, extra footsteps were heard and another Twoleg dashed at the entrance to the dairy aisle. With a Twoleg behind them and a Twoleg in front of them, the cats were trapped.

"Not," Cookiehead said to the text, jumping onto a ledge of cans of cat food. Jumping from ledge to ledge, aisle to aisle, the cat thought he would be able to escape. But as he got ready to jump to the double doors, he saw a bunch of Twolegs streaming out of it, blocking it and running across the aisles. Some even jumped onto the ledges to grab the cats, but tripped over it and knocked supplies down, cans and bottles rolling all over the aisle.

"We need to get out of here somehow!" Brownwing yowled frighteningly.

"Don't worry, I have an idea," Cookiehead said to Brownwing, even though he was mostly directing it to himself. He looked up at the roof, noticing the long sticks stretched across it. One was really close to the ground, and Cookiehead wondered if he could jump onto it. Jumping from ledge to ledge, cans rolling underneath his paws, he saw the stick, just barely a foot from his face. "JUMP!" he yowled, and leapt onto the sticks, that were arranged all around the roof like a maze. Jumping from stick to stick, Cookiehead wondered if he could reach the emergency exit in the roof, without accidentially falling to his ultimate death.

Jumping from stick to stick, Cookiehead was almost oblivious of Brownwing behind him, only caring about getting to the emeregency exit in the roof without dying. But as he jumped, Cookiehead accedientally looked down below him and slipped down off a stick, plunging towards the bottom of the store floor. "HELP!" he yelled, even though he knew it would bring no actual help. Cookiehead closed his eyes, hoping he wouldn't get to see his death in action.

Cookiehead waited a couple seconds.

He was still alive.

Cookiehead waited a couple more seconds.

He was still alive.

Finally, Cookiehead had the courage to open his eyes. When he did, he saw that he was still quite high above the store floor. Cookiehead twisted his head around and was happy to see that Brownwing's teeth were clenched fiercly in his scruff. Brownwing had saved Cookiehead from dying.

"Thank you," Cookiehead told Brownwing, out of breath. Brownwing nodded happily. "It was nothing. I couldn't stand to watch a cat die."

The conversation was brief, though. After Brownwing had saved Cookiehead, Cookiehead was able to get to the highest stick, where above him a square was embedded into the ceiling. Cookiehead stood there, panting, for a few moments.

"Where do we go now?" Brownwing asked.

"Above," Cookiehead answered. He pushed on the square above him and it opened, letting light flow in. Smelling the fresh breeze of the outdoors, Cookiehead clamped his paws on the edge and heaved himself up to the Mernards roof. After Brownwing had done the same, Cookiehead shut the door closed and looked at the surroundings of him. The two were now up on the Mernards roof, where no cat could ever go. Cookiehead sighed in relief.

"How will we get down?" Brownwing asked.

"Good question," Cookiehead replied. He pointed with his tail towards a nearby oak tree. "We jump from tree to tree until we reach the ground. Do you want to follow me?"

"Actually," Brownwing said, shuffling his paws on the ground, "I live somewhere else."

"It's fine," Cookiehead replied. He bowed his head to Brownwing. "We're going in opposite directions now. Thank you for alerting me of that Twoleg, and for saving me when I was about to die."

"Thank _you _for not killing me," Brownwing meowed. "But I'm sure I've done more for you then you've done for me."

"May StarClan light your path." Cookiehead dipped his head to Brownwing, and Brownwing did the same. Then Cookiehead turned his head around, leaped onto the oak tree, and from there to the next, all the way until he reached the river. From there, Cookiehead took the bridge across it and ran all the way back to the camp. _Nicepaw must have returned by now, _Cookiehead realized. And he was correct. He could see Nicepaw's black pelt at the other side of the camp.

"Nicepaw!" Cookiehead yelled, rushing towards her.

"What, Cookiehead?" Nicepaw asked sweetly.

"How are you going?" Cookiehead asked.

"Fine, thanks for asking," Nicepaw responded. "I caught a thrush and two voles on the patrol. Are you proud of me?"

"Very proud," Cookiehead replied. "Serpentpaw's going to become a warrior soon. Looks like you're not too far behind."

Cookiehead turned his head to Mr. Therapist's den. Hoping to see Mr. Therapist alone, he instead saw Mr. Therapist with Laughingmouth. Cookiehead ran closer. What was Mr. Therapist trying to do with Laughingmouth? As the two went into the medicine cat den, Cookiehead pressed against the den rock and stretched his ears.

"-sit down in this chair, it'll only take a few moments." That sounded like Mr. Therapist. There was a bit of scuffling around, and then the sound of metal. "There it is!" Mr. Therapist's voice sounded muffled, and he padded over to Laughingmouth. "Now sit here, and follow this with your eyes."

Cookiehead stretched his ears louder. Was Mr. Therapist _hypnotising _Laughingmouth?

"You are getting calm, very, very, calm," Mr. Therapist meowed. "From now on, instead of laughing hysterically, you will remain calm and try to keep your Clanmates at peace. When I saw 'hahaha', you will follow Mr. Therapist's instructions until another person says 'hahaha', and so forth. HAHAHA!"

There was no sound for a while. Then Laughingmouth padded out of the den, nodding at Cookiehead. "Hello," he meowed. Cookiehead pricked his ears in surprise. It was still strange to not see Laughingmouth bursting into laughs at anything. _Is that what he did to Nicepaw? Did he hypnotise her to be nice?_

Cookiehead looked at Mr. Therapist skeptically. _Hypnotism is a good skill. But there is _no use _to hypnotise Laughingmouth at all! _But Cookiehead did not do anything, instead wondering something. _What is Nicepaw's hypnotising word? What if someone _says _it?_

Cookiehead gave a large gulp. _It's probably for the better. Mr. Therapist wouldn't just hypnotise Laughingmouth for _fun. With that, Cookiehead shrugged his shoulders and padded over to the fresh-kill pile.

Meanwhile, in the nursery, Frightenedmouth was lying out stretched, moving uncomfortably. Blueface, the other queen, tried to scrunch up against the wall to make Frightenedmouth have more room. But she will still squirming. Blueface moved even closer to the wall, and Frightenedmouth was still squirming. "For StarClan's sake, what is wrong?" Blueface screamed.

Frightenedmouth didn't answer.

"Can you talk? Or do you just stay like that forever?" Blueface asked.

Frightenedmouth nodded. She grabbed a piece of paper out of nowhere and began writing on it with a pencil. She held it up to Blueface's face. _I can't talk. My mouth permanently became open in shock after an incident. _

"What incident?" Blueface asked.

Frightenedmouth wrote down some more words. _Back when I was a kit and Laughingmouth was an apprentice, his laugh was much more frightening. Once, I peeked outside the nursery and saw Laughingpaw laughing so hard, and so loud, and so hillariously, that my mouth became open in shock. _Forever.

"That's...harsh," Blueface answered, not knowing what else to say.

Frightenedmouth nodded. "Why are you squirming anyway?" Blueface asked.

_Nervousness, _Frightenedmouth wrote. _I'm at last having Laughingmouth's kits, and I don't really know what to name them. I'm thinking one might be named Discokit. And the pressure of having kits is on me. Oh, and by the way, who's _your _mate? _

"Well...you see..." Blueface dropped her voice to a whisper and moved closer to Frightenedmouth. "I don't have a mate. I pretended I was having kits, because I had just bought a Nintendo DSi from Mernards, and I know Bananastar doesn't allow them. The nursery is the perfect place to hide. So I hid in here, and nobody has ever noticed it. Want to play?" Blueface handed out a white Nintendo DSi.

Frightenedmouth nodded. She opened up the Nintendo DSi and suddenly, words and pictures flashed onto the screen. _A wild Chimchar appeared!_

"Oh, oh, sorry, I was playing this game," Blueface stammered. She grabbed the DSi and slid out the game cartridge, placing My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic in there instead. "This might be more plausible."

Frightenedmouth shook her head. _No. No. It's okay. I like Pokemon._

Blueface smiled. "Oh. All right. Frightenedmouth, I look forward to seeing your kits when they're born."

Frightenedmouth smiled too. Blueface couldn't guess what she was thinking, but it must have been something happy.


	10. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 8**

Brownwing stumbled into the camp, heavy with the burden of news. The camps' ears pricked to attention, and Brownwing stumbled, tired into the center of the camp, where he collapsed. Cats gathered around him. "A Mernards...CrazyClan cats...hidden...Cookiehead..." Brownwing fainted, still hypervelinating.

"Fluffyfur, take him to Quailbird's!" the leader yowled, stepping over to his deputy, who was picking Brownwing up. "I'm sure all of us would like to hear what Brownwing has to say, but he is exhausted now, and we have to wait a little."

"He said something about a 'Mernards'," Whitesquare mentioned. "I don't know what a Mernards is. It must be a Twoleg thing."

"The reader!" the leader exclaimed, and rushed into the elders' den, where he found the reader sprawled out, sleeping. The leader nudged him with his nose. "The reader! The reader!"

"Wwwhhhaattt?" the reader asked, stirring from his sleep and stretching his arms above him in a simply enormous yawn.

"Brownwing came in the camp and said something about a Mernards," the leader reviewed. "We thought it might be a Twoleg thing, and since you're a Twoleg, you might know what it is."

"A Mernards?" the reader asked. "Isn't that a store or something?"

"So Mernards is a store," the leader said to himself. "And CrazyClan...I'll need to talk to the camp about this immediately! Bye!" The leader rushed out of the elders' den and leapt onto the Meeting Tree. "Let all cats of OtherClan gather beneath the Meeting Tree for a Clan meeting!"

Most of the Clan was already outside, so they padded beneath the Meeting Tree and looked up at the leader expectantly. The only cats that weren't here were Quailbird, Brownwing, and, of course, Toto. But the leader wasn't worried about them right now. He was more worried about that 'Mernards', that store, that had something to do with CrazyClan.

"From my deductions, I have found out that Mernards is a store," the leader meowed, panicking. "From Brownwing's words, it might be owned by CrazyClan, or else have something to do with them. If CrazyClan is hiding an entire store from us, we need to take action. Whitesquare, Woodtooth, Graytooth, Pointedpelt, and Fluffyfur! You go on a patrol to see if you can find the Mernards! I'll see to Brownwing!"

"This is so exciting!" Fluffyfur mewed as she slid into the head of the Mernards patrol, which then immediately departed the camp.

The leader quickly ran to the medicine cat den, where he finally began to slow down. "How's Brownwing doing?" he asked, as Quailbird stood there, her paws over Brownwing's belly.

"Fine," Quailbird answered. "He just fainted. I'm sure he'll be up and ready in a couple minutes."

"I wonder how far that Mernards is," the leader wondered allowed. "It either was so far that he passed out, or that there was a battle and Brownwing got injured."

"There aren't any wounds on him," Quailbird pointed out.

The leader didn't reply. "What if he ran into a CrazyClan cat and just barely managed to escape? If Mernards is a store, then CrazyClan could have everything at their paws and be ready for the battle in a moment. We'll need to steal Mernards for ourselves to be ready."

"Well, don't say that to me, I'm a medicine cat," Quailbird teased. "Now go out. Brownwing needs space."

The leader reluctantly padded out of the medicine cat's den, thoughts about Mernards and Brownwing stirring his head. _But now I can worry about Toto. _The black and white cat was curled up in the warriors' den somewhere, evil plans bubbling up in his head. _All he wants to do is remake The Marshmellows. There's nothing bad about that. But this is OtherClan, and The Marshmellows are the only other group I can find. _

The leader, by impulse, suddenly felt a flashback to when he lived in CrazyClan, as deputy of Bananastar. Back before Cookiehead was deputy, back when there were Serpentkit, Nicekit, and Redkit all in the nursery, and back when Bananastar had actually liked him. The leader felt as if he could run all the way to CrazyClan and apologize for his actions, but now it was too late. _They banished me, I banish them. _

***  
"That place is darn big," Whitesquare meowed in awe, staring up at the large buildings with MERNARDS written on a sign in big blue-and-white letters.

"And I thought the Twoleg-dens were big," Fluffyfur mentioned. "But this is like a _huge _Twoleg-den. A Twoleg-den packed with stuff!"

"Is CrazyClan seriously hiding such big of a supplies depot from OtherClan?" Woodtooth asked. "How?"

"I call first! Last one there is a rotten egg!" Graytooth rushed to the entrance, and the rest of the patrol quickly followed after, pushing and fighting to get inside the store. Pointedpelt, the last cat to get into the store, suddenly turned into a rotten egg as soon as Woodtooth entered. It was a couple seconds before he morphed back into a cat and ran into the store.

"Is that seriously a...whole aisle of fresh-kill?" Fluffyfur squealed.

"And a whole stack of toothbrushes and toothpaste?" Woodtooth asked.

"And a whole ledge of orange juice?" Graytooth screamed.

"Wahoo!" all the cats yelled, running off to the aisle they wanted to see first. Pointedpelt, left alone in the middle, looked around for something. Suddenly, a rack of food caught his eye. They weren't fresh-kill, but the food-scent was on them, and they smelled delicious. Suddenly, as soon as Pointedpelt saw the words written on some of them, he squealed. "Is that...candy?" he exclaimed.

Pointedpelt suddenly ran to the middle, grabbed six shopping carts, and began shoving Starbursts, Twix, Skittles, M&Ms, Reeses, Airheads, Whoppers, and any other candy you can think of into the carts. When he was sure he had gotten enough candy(it took him quite a while to realize that)he walked over to a station where a cat stood, sleeping.

"Can I buy this?" Pointedpelt asked.

"Wha-woah!" the cat exclaimed. He woke up and blinked twice. His eyes were sleepy with crust, and his pelt was all ragged and twisted. "Yeah, yeah." He yawned. "Put it on the counter."

Pointedpelt picked up all six shopping carts with his muscle-filled arms and tossed them onto the counter. The counter immediately exploded in a flurry of wires, wood, shredded tires, fur, and a stack of candy. After all the debris had been cleared, Pointedpelt was left staring at a cat with no fur, who was looking very angry, and very funny too with his exposed pink body and an angry look on his face. "You're supposed to take the things _out _of the shopping carts," the countercat growled.

"Oh," Pointedpelt meowed, rolling his eyes. He picked all 12 million candies out of the shopping carts, put them in his arms, and heaved them onto the next counter.

That counter suceedingly exploded in a flurry of wires, wood, shredded tires, fur, and a stack of candy. And the counter next to that. The cat was now very angry. "Oh, StarClan," he growled angrily. "Whatever. Um..." the cat inspected the candies. "That will be 534, 434, 938 dollars and 92 cents."

"What are dollars and cents?" Pointedpelt asked.

The tom growled louder. He pulled out a green slip of paper from a black box. "_This_-" he said, pointing to the green slip, "is a dollar. _This_-" he held out a copper-colored circle, "is a cent. Happy now? You have to give me 5-"

"534, 434, 938 dollars and 92 cents, I know," Pointedpelt meowed. The two cats stood there for a minute, staring at each other awkwardly. Pointedpelt stared at the cat. The cat stared at Pointedpelt. Pointedpelt nodded his head. The cat narrowed his eyes. Pointedpelt stuck out his tongue. The cat growled. Pointedpelt jumped up in the air-

"SHUT UP AND GIVE ME THE DARN MONEY ALREADY!" the cat yelled at the top of his lungs. Steam was shooting out of his ears, his paws were clenched in fists, and his eyes were red with fury.

"I don't have any," Pointedpelt mewed contendetly.

"OH MY STARCLA-" the cat screamed, but regretted it and turned around. "Meh. Forget it. I suppose you don't know about bank accounts either-"

"What are bank account-"

"Oh, that's nice." The cat rolled his eyes. "Curse StarClan. Darn this, I'm leaving. You can have those candies, I don't care. I don't need the money, I don't care. Bye." The cat stomped out of Mernards angrily.

Pointedpelt shrugged, not really aware of what had just happened. With that, Pointedpelt picked up the candies that had scattered all over the floor and began heaving them into the shopping carts, ready to go to another aisle.

If CrazyClan was hiding this big of a store from OtherClan, then Pointedpelt could see why they wanted battle.


	11. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER 9**

"They sure are a hefty bunch," Laughingmouth half complained, half joked, pressing his pelt against Frightenedmouth. It was not long ago that Frightenedmouth's new kits had been born: Discokit, Nyankit, and Starkit, and they all had their respective qualities. Discokit was a white tom with gray spots on his pelt, Nyankit was a pop-tart, rainbow-colored she-cat with rainbows shooting out of her but and a gray face with pink cheeks, and Starkit was a golden-colored tom with a long, flowing mane. All of them, in Frightenedmouth's opinion, were "wonderful".

Frightenedmouth nodded. She smiled at her three kits, playing with Serpentslap in the middle of the clearing. Serpentslap had recently become a warrior, and then he had recieved a massive transformation. Serpentslap's paws had turned back to normal, and Serpentslap's tail suddenly became a long serpent tail that he could slap cats with. However, he didn't seem to be so harsh with Frightenedmouth's kits, and seemed to have a liking for them.

"Is it true that there is a Mernards outside the camp?" Starkit asked.

"Yes, perfectly true," Serpentslap responded. "It has everything you could ever want. Fresh-kill, tools, magazines, _candy..._"

Starkit's mouth was drooling.

"Do they sell disco balls and radios?" Discokit asked.

"And pop tarts and rainbows?" Nyankit asked.

"And Starbursts and candy and Twix and candy and Reeses and _candy?_" Starkit meowed hungrily.

"All that and more," Serpentslap answered. "But you can't go there now. You have to wait until you're a warrior."

"I want my warrior name to be Discoslap, like you!" Discokit exclaimed.

"I want mine to be Nyanawesome!" Nyankit exclaimed.

"Nothing could be better than Starthecandylover!" Starkit meowed happily.

"Kits, kits," Laughingmouth mewed, chuckling as he shook his head. "Already thinking of what will happen when they're warriors."

"Speaking of warriors, Redpaw, Nicepaw, and Stupidpaw aren't too far off," Brokenspine meowed, going to sit over by the two.

As cats chatted and played in the clearing, Cookiehead couldn't help thinking about the cat he had met at Mernards. _Who exactly is this Brownwing? Why does he have such a strange name? What Clan does he belong to? _Cookiehead's mind was spinning with questions, so he decided to take a walk in the forest to clear his mind.

As Cookiehead trotted out into the forest, he continued on past the large beech tree that marked the border. He didn't go far past it when he made a sharp left, where no cat had ever gone before. The warriors called it, the Unknown Forest, and past there was eternal darkness, trees that reached down to kill you, and unfamiliar terrain with blood spilled everywhere. Only cats could guess what was in the Unknown Forest, and once, an old warrior of CrazyClan, Rottenegg, had gone into the Unknown Forest and came back with an unknown sickness that made him cough harder than greencough, be unable to walk, and soon be unable to see, hear, or even talk. Cookiehead didn't care about what had happened to Rottenegg at the moment, or what the Unknown Forest held. He just wanted _answers. Is that too much to ask?_

As Cookiehead took a pawstep into the Unknown Forest, he stopped dead in his tracks. Was he sure he wanted to go here. _Yes. _Cookiehead continued forward, but stopped a tail-length from the border. _Don't be a scaredy-cat, Cookiehead. Go on! _Cookiehead continued on into the Unknown Forest, until all light was gone, Cookiehead was surrounded by shadowed trees, and the air was misty with the scent of blood.

Even with all this, Cookiehead forced himself to go on. _Is that the ground getting slippery? Is that moans of cats? _Cookiehead began shivering, and wanted to turn tail and run, but he knew he had to be brave. _I need to find out if my answers are in here! _Cookiehead continued walking, and then he froze.

A cat's claw was on his shoulder.

"AHHH!" Cookiehead yelled, turning around and jumping at the cat. Then Cookiehead sighed. What was there wasn't a cat. It was only the long, trendil-like branch of a long oak tree. Cookiehead kept going, but as he trodded over more marsh, he heard a cat's moan.

Coming from ahead.

It wasn't far ahead.

It was probably only ten tree-lengths away.

"I'm coming!" Cookiehead yowled. He broke into a run, trees whizzing past him, the air flying past his smooth pelt. The moans were getting louder. Cookiehead narrowed his eyes, and ran faster. He was running faster than he had ever run before.

Suddenly, Cookiehead slammed into hard rock.

"OW!" Cookiehead exclaimed. He fell to the ground below him, world spinning above. He could see nothing, not knowing whether it was because he was hurt or because of the Unknown Forest's darkness.

And then he blacked out.

"Does any cat know where Cookiehead is?" Punycat called out.

"He seems to be disappearing a lot lately," Serpentslap remarked.

The Clan was in chaos. After Cookiehead had disappeared into the Unknown Forest, the topic of the day had been where he had gone. Every cat was worried, even Bananastar. Bananastar kept looking up at the sky uneasily, as if bird poop was about to rain down on him.

"Bananastar?" A voice came from outside Bananastar's den.

"Come in," Bananastar muttered. The copper-colored pelt of Serpentslap shone in the sunlight as he entered the leaders' den.

"I think I know where Cookiehead is," Serpentslap muttered.

"You do? Where? How?" Bananastar leapt up to his paws.

"One at a time, one at a time," Serpentslap soothed. "I saw his pawprints leading out of camp. I tried following them, but they went pretty far."

"Then there's no time to lose!" Bananastar yowled. "We need to send out a rescue patrol! He could be in real trouble!" Bananastar leapt onto the message rock and yowled a greeting. "Let all cats old enough to go to Mernards gather here beneath the message rock!"

Cats immediately became streaming in. Bananastar could see the black pelt of Nicepaw, and the black-and-white pelt of Mr. Therapist. He could also make out Laughingmouth and Punycat, as well as Picknose and Macaronicheese. Soon all of the Clan's eyes seemed to be focused on him.

"Serpentslap has told me that Cookiehead has been going outside camp," Bananastar announced. "He went too far that Serpentslap couldn't detect it on his own. I will be sending a rescue patrol to get him, made up of Nicepaw, Punycat, Explodingface, Risinghead, and Mr. Therapist."

"Excuse me for interrupting, but why is the medicine cat going?" Redpaw asked in her shrill voice.

"If Cookiehead is hurt, we need him to help," Bananastar growled. "Now go! We have no time to waste!" Bananastar waved his tail and the five cats he had mentioned hurried over to the front entrance to the camp. The rest of the camp began to disassemble. Bananastar did an epic leap from the top of the rock and padded over to the patrol.

"My only words are to find Cookiehead," Bananastar panicked. "I hope you all get back safety. Mr. Therapist, if a cat is wounded, what do you use?"

"Mr. Therapist will use Band-aids," Mr. Therapist exclaimed.

"And if he's severely hurt?" Bananastar asked.

"Wrap him up with a cast," Mr. Therapist replied.

"Good. Now set off!" Bananastar waved his tail, and the patrol set off into the camp entrance. After they had left, Bananastar drowsily padded over to his den, curled up in his mossy nest, and drifted off to sleep before he knew it.

A large meadow was all around Bananastar. Flowers grew among it, and cats floricked in the sunshine, skipping and dancing or just plain floricking.

"La la la la la," a brown-colored tom meowed, skipping in the field.

Bananastar looked around, knowing this was a place he had never seen before, in his dreams or not. Suddenly, everything went dark. A group of ten cats stepped in front of him, their eyes glowing. Bananastar suddenly gulped. His brother was in the front, scars along his pelt. A fluffy white cat was next to him.

Suddenly, Bananastar's brother jumped at him. Bananastar tried to leap back, but find himself unable to move. His brother was ripping his throat open, and Bananastar screamed in horror as blood flew out of his throat and soaked the ground. Cat fought against cat, Clan against Clan. Bananastar could see Nicepaw, looking slightly bigger, fighting with a much older cat, who pinned her down to the ground. A cat that looked like Starkit, but much older, was throwing Starbursts at another cat. Yet Bananastar was helpless to do anything. Then his brother stepped over him and cackled. Bananastar closed his eyes and opened them again. He was still in the meadow, but no one was there. The ground was soaked in blood and bodies.

Suddenly, a ghostly figure appeared in the air. _One Clan will become two, two will become death, and death will welcome survival. _Then it disappeared, and Bananastar woke up.

"One Clan will become two..." he murmured in his head. "What could that mean? And why was my brother in my dream? Why was my Clan in my dream? What does it mean?" he wailed to the heavens.

Cookiehead looked around him, only to find darkness. He moved forward, but stone was there. Backward. Stone was there. Sideways. Stone was there. Cookiehead jumped up and banged his head on the wall; stars started flying above his head as he collapsed to the ground. Stone was there too.

"Where am I?" Cookiehead wailed, wondering if anybody could hear him. "Where am I?"

No one responded. Cookiehead seemed to be encased in some stone. Cookiehead began to run his paws across the stone, wondering if there was an opening he could get through. None. Cookiehead felt the ceiling. None. Then Cookiehead felt the soft dirt ground. His paws hit wood. Some.

Cookiehead, his breathing getting faster, pushed down against the wood. It didn't open. He pushed up against the wood. It didn't open. He pushed sideways against the wood, and it opened with a loud creak. Cookiehead looked down, seeing a faint light down there but not knowing what it was. Cookiehead leaped in and found himself falling down a long hole. Cookiehead looked down.

"Oh, darn," he yelled, as the ground came near him. Cookiehead closed his eyes and as he hit the ground, his legs buckled underneath him. Pain flew all through his body. As soon as Cookiehead managed to open them, he saw a long tunnel. Light flew in from an unknown area. Pawsteps crowded the ground. Some cats had been here before.

Cookiehead wanted to go down the tunnels, but when he stood up, his knees buckled and he fell down to the ground. "I hope no one finds me down here," he muttered.

"Well, that's too bad," a cat murmured. "I found you."

Cookiehead looked around. "I can't see you."

"I'm here."

"Where?"

"Behind you."

Cookiehead turned around and his eyes popped out of his head as he jumped backwards. "GJDSHRFOAJESOIDJSDJSDKFJSUDH FJSIFHJSDFHJSDIUHFJSDJFHJSDI FJH!" he yowled in surprise.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you're surprised to see me," the cat meowed. "Can you guess what my name is?"

"What?"

"Rottenegg, of course," the cat meowed, rolling his eyes. "I've been stuck down here forever, and nobody's ever found me. Until you came!"

"Why didn't you move forward?"

"I did," Rottenegg mentioned. "It ends. Total stone. No way out."

Cookiehead gulped. "I'd like to go there anyway."

"Your leg's twisted," Rottenegg mentioned, changing the subject. "Here, let me put some herbs on it." Rottenegg laid down a couple of mushed up green stuff and suddenly his leg felt good as new.

"What are these?" he asked.

"Herbs," Rottenegg stated. "They heal people."

"I thought only Band-aids and casts did that," Cookiehead asked.

"Band-aids? Casts? What are those?" Rottenegg looked at Cookiehead questiongly.

"Never mind." Cookiehead shook his head. "Are any other cats down here?"

"Nope, just me and you." Rottenegg laid against the wall and suddenly he fell through it. A large _creak _resulted and he, along with whatever he had crashed through, fell down another long hole. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHH!" came a long voice from the hole.

"This is getting weirder by the second," Cookiehead meowed. "I'm coming, Rottenegg!"

Cookiehead ran towards the hole, looked down, and saw that it was total blackness down there. Cookiehead turned around and gulped. _I must be brave. I must be brave. _Cookiehead looked down into the hole, and then jumped. Wind blew past his pelt, ruffling it the wrong way. Darkness was everywhere. Cookiehead, after a couple minutes, was still falling. Suddenly, a realization hit him. _What if there's no ground?_

Cookiehead's paws scrabbled at the stone walls, but nothing happened. There was nothing to save him.

"I'm screwed," Cookiehead meowed as he fell to his certain death.


	12. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER 10**

The leader woke up, his eyes bright with the arrival of a new day. The days had been plentiful so far. A group of three rogues joined OtherClan, and became named Earlflight, Gorsenose, and Deerfall. The patrol reported back with the Mernards scenario, and the leader had been furious to take over it. Toto had avoided him most of the time, and hunting had been well. Today the leader wanted to practice for the battle. _If we want to attack, we want to attack when no one will expect it. _

The leader stepped out of the den, the sun beginning to rise in the early night sky. Even though it was early, Earlflight, Gorsenose, Deerfall, and Fluffyfur prowled the camp anxiously, panicking. The leader quickly rushed over to them.

"What's wrong?" the leader asked Fluffyfur.

"The Marshmellows are _gone!_" wailed Deerfall.

"WHAT!" the leader screamed. He ran over to the warriors' den and wasn't surprised to see that no one was inside. "A-are you sure th-they just didn't g-go off to h-h-hunt?"

"Why would _all _of them go out like that?" Earlflight asked. "Why could they have done this?"

Thoughts were already bubbling in the leader's mind. _Toto. He must have done this. He wanted to remake the Marshmellows! He must have been the one who let them all escape!_

"Fluffyfur, I think it's Toto," the leader meowed. "He wanted to remake the Marshmellows, so he must have run off with them!"

"You're talking sense," Gorsenose meowed. "Toto always glares at us with this mean look. Of course he runs away with the Marshmellows!"

"We need to get them back!" the leader exclaimed. "Where's the Twolegplace?"

"The leader, I don't think we should go there," Fluffyfur mewed softly, running her tail along the leader's flank. "We could get hurt. If they escaped, I don't think they'll return."

"B-but," the leader stammered, then sighed. "You're probably right. Maybe they're not the cats we're meant to find. Maybe we need to find new cats."

"We have less cats then we did before," Earlflight mentioned. "There's us three, then you two. That's five cats. And the reader's the only human. How will we get five more cats to match up with the ten we had before?"

The reader suddenly woke up and rushed outside like an idiot.

"I know, I know!" it exclaimed.

"What?" the reader asked desperately.

"I know this place called the pet store," the reader said. "I think there's one not too far from here. There there's a bunch of cats. But there's also dogs, mice, hamsters, ferrets, and other animals, so you have to be careful."

"There's no time to lose!" the leader exclaimed. "Come, follow me! The reader, stay here in case they come back or in case you run into trouble."

"To find the petstore, you go right, and then as soon as you reach the city, with a lot of tall buildings and Thunderpaths, go forward, turn left, and the pet store's right at the end."

"Wait...did you say a 'city'?" Gorsenose asked.

"Yes," the reader replied.

"How will we get through there?" Fluffyfur asked. "My housefolk lived in a city. There were a lot of monsters and Thunderpaths there. We just can't get past those!"

"We'll have to risk it," the leader asked. Then he turned to the reader. "The battle is coming up. We'll have to set a reasonable date. One month." The leader looked at the reader. "Are you listening?"

"Yes."

"One month," the leader repeated. "We'll most likely be back in one month, with a lot of new cats. If we do not come back in one month, then something bad has happened to us, in which you are allowed to rescue us. Then we'll attack CrazyClan. This is climactic."

"If you don't come back in one month, I'll hitch a ride on a bus and save you," the reader repeated.

"Exactly," the leader finished. "This is very serious. Protect the camp, and wish us good luck."

"Great luck," the reader wished. "I hope you survive."

"Good luck to you too," the leader completed. He waved his tail at the reader. "I'll see you in one month, if nothing bad happens to us."

"Bye!"

"Bye." The leader was about to pad out of camp when the reader yelled "Stop!"

"What do you need?" the leader asked angrily.

"The cats are locked in cages," the reader mentioned. "And there are Twolegs. It'd be best if you split up. Oh, and don't attack the Twolegs. Just _run. _They might put you in a cage themselves."

"All right," the leader mewed, finishing with a sigh. "Follow me." With a wave of his tail, the leader stepped out of the camp, and the four cats followed him, to parts unknown, to a city, where they would find the "pet store" and a bunch of new cats along with it.

Things were about to get exciting.

_I wish I was going with them, _the reader thought. _This is one of the best things that's ever happened to me this month. This could be my big chance. If they don't come in a month, I could hitch a ride on a bus, go to the pet store, and save them. It would be so awesome. _

The reader trudged slowly back over to his den, where he laid down and stared up at the rock ceiling. Somewhere above that, there were stars. _I wonder how the cats are doing now? _the reader asked. _What if I could follow them?_

Suddenly, the reader got an idea. It ran out of its den, out the bramble thicket, not caring if he cut himself, and looked off into the distance. There he could see five black dots, slowly padding towards the large city ahead. The reader looked at the city and smiled.

_I'm following them. _

He ran off into the distance after the five black dots that were heading towards the large, bustling city. Things were about to get exciting now, for both the cats and for itself.


	13. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER 11**

Cookiehead had been falling now, for almost a whole chapter. _When will this hole _ever _end? _Cookiehead whined to himself. _And where is Rottenegg? _

Almost as if StarClan had heard his cries, the ground came rushing up towards him. Cookiehead saw that this time, he was falling towards a light so bright, that it nearly blinded him. _What is this? _Cookiehead quickly looked away, and let his body fall into the bright light.

Suddenly, Cookiehead woke up and saw darkness all around him. Panicking, he pushed his paws against the walls, but only touched air, making him lose his balance and collapse. He stretched his paws in front of him. The same stone wall he had bumped into. "Phew," Cookiehead meowed. "Only a dream." _But what kind of dream was that? _Cookiehead asked himself, as he began running away from the Unknown Forest. _No cat knows what's in there. But if I go in there, I might never come out. _

Cookiehead was relieved when he finally saw the light again. Cookiehead sighed in relief, his legs aching as if he had really met Rottenegg. Trudging along the marshy ground, Cookiehead looked down at his pawsteps, quitely and tiredly following them to camp. By the time he reached the hollow in which CrazyClan sheltered, he stumbled inside and felt as if he could sleep for a moon.

"There you are!" Bananastar exclaimed. "Where have you been! You've been gone for a week!"

_A week? _"The Unknown Forest," Cookiehead mumbled. "I felt as if my answers would be in there. Then I had this crazy dream that I met Rottenegg over there-"

"Your silly dreams aren't important," Bananastar grumbled. "It's the Unknown Forest that's important now. You've been gone for so long, Nyanpaw, Discopaw, and Starpaw have been made apprentices!"

"Who's their mentors?" Cookiehead asked.

"Punycat, Macaronicheese, and Risinghead," Bananastar answered. "But tell me one thing: I must never go into the Unknown Forest again."

"I must never go into the Unknown Forest again," Cookiehead repeated.

"Good." Bananastar waved his tail. "If I see you out of camp again for the rest of this week, I'll have you back to apprentice duties!"

Cookiehead nodded regrettably. _But what is in the Unknown Forest? What if its something useful? I just _have _to go there! _But Cookiehead didn't want to get punished. So he trudged over to the apprentices' den, which must have been twice as crowded now. Nyanpaw and Discopaw were play-fighting, while Redpaw and Starpaw were throwing a ball of moss to each other. Cookiehead stared up at the camp, his paws itching to go there.

Then Cookiehead let tiredness get the better of him, and went back to sleep.

Nyanpaw woke up, her beautiful rainbow-colored fur shining along the den walls. She couldn't believe she had been made an apprentice already. Her attempts to fly were getting much better, and little rainbows shot out whenever she started. She had been making progress in hunting and battle training, too. But Nyanpaw's favorite thing to do was to fly.

Nyanpaw looked around the camp, hoping nobody was there. When she found nobody, she crouched into a hunting crouch, her rump waggling in the air. Then she leaped up into the air. Little sparks of rainbows shot out of her butt as she flew up into the sky. A watch on her paw counted how high she flew as she started singing her 'flying song', she called it. "Nyannyannyannyannyannyannyan nyannyannyannyannyannyannyan nyannyannyannyannyannyan," she sang as she flew up into the air. Suddenly, she began crashing back down, and she stretched out her paws, landing softly. She checked her flywatch.

"15.23 meters!" Nyanpaw exclaimed. "That's a new record." She was just about to try again when her mentor, Punycat ran out of the warriors' den. "I think we should practice hunting today," she meowed. "The sound you make when you fly is a little bit...annoying."

"All right," she muttered. "But nobody's up!"

"They _will _be up if you continue with your flying song," Punycat muttered. "Now let me get some rest."

Nyanpaw sighed. There must be a place where she could practice flying in peace. Then an idea came to Nyanpaw. _The Mernards border! _Nyanpaw spun around and flew through the back tunnel(not literally), out of the camp. She sped over the river in a long jump, the wind blowing around her and ruffling her pelt the wrong way. The trees flew around her as the large blue-white building rose in front of her. "Maybe I can try to get to the top of that," she muttered.

She got into a hunting crouch, raised her rump, and began to waggle it. Then she leaped, her front paws soaring up into the air. As little sparks of rainbow shot out of her butt, she began to soar up into the sky, and her flying song began to sound(found at  watch?v=QH2-TGUlwu4). Her loud 'nyans' were echoing everywhere as she soared up towards the Mernards roof. She checked her flywatch.

14. 97 meters.

"Just a little bit higher..." she urged herself. She managed to fly up a little bit higher, but as her watch reached 15.12 meters, she began to go down. Nyanpaw tried to fly higher, but she was crashing down. Nyanpaw raised her paws in the air, as her flying song began to slow. Nyanpaw stretched her body, trying to get higher, but her flywatch began to go rapidly down. 13.22, 12.12, 11.01, 10.43. Nyanpaw sighed as she collapsed on the ground. Would she ever be able to go high enough?

Nyanpaw padded back to camp, just as life started getting carried on. Cookiehead was organizing patrols, and apprentices were going out with their mentors. To the other apprentices, all they had to do was hunting and battle training. She had flying added in. She would be the best warrior anyone could ever be.

Bananastar was pacing restlesstly outside his den, the words of the prophecy still stuck in his head. One part of his mind itched to tell Mr. Therapist or Cookiehead about his problem, but the other half told himself to keep it safe, in case it was a bad prophecy. _But if I tell anybody, then we'll be more prepared. _

"One Clan will become two..." Bananastar whispered under his breath. "Two will become death. Death will welcome survival. Whose death? Whose survival? How can death ensure survival?" Bananastar's mind bubbled, trying to figure it out.

"What if our Clans split in two..." Bananastar murmured. "But that was a bad idea, because it gave way to death of both our cats. And after this happens, we go back together to re-ensure survival?" Bananastar's mind burned with the possibility and finally, he gave way, stomping over to the warriors' den.

"Cookiehead!" Bananastar exclaimed.

"What?" Cookiehead asked. His head peeked up from where he was sharing a vole with Nicepaw.

"Come with me. To my den." Bananastar waved his tail. "It's urgent."

"Oh, all right," Cookiehead muttered. He got to his paws and gave a farewell nod to Nicepaw as he followed Bananastar underneath the meeting rock and into his den. It was dark, and the sound of dripping water was in the corner. Bananastar sat down, and Cookiehead did too.

Bananastar was the first to speak. "I had a prophecy."

Cookiehead's ears pricked. "What is it?"

"Well, it went somewhat like this." Bananastar's blue eyes gleamed. "One Clan will become two, two will become death, and death will welcome survival."

"Well, I think I may have an answer to that," Cookiehead replied.

"Really?" Bananastar asked. "What?"

"Well, at least the 'one Clan will become two' part," Cookiehead repeated. "Back when I was at Mernards, I saw this cat named Brownwing. He's not from here, but he has a warrior cat name, so he must be from another Clan. 'One Clan will become two'. There are two Clans in the forest, not one."

"And two will welcome death?" the CrazyClan leader meowed, raising his tail.

"Because there are two Clans, tensions will rise, probably," Cookiehead guessed. "But when you allow me out of the camp, I'm sure that we might have to look for this second Clan to find out what the prophecy is."

"Which way did the cat go?" Bananastar asked. "Brownwing, I mean."

"Left of the Mernards," Cookiehead answered. "I know no more than that."

"Should we send out a patrol to go there?" Bananastar asked.

"It'll probably be fitting for just us two to go," Cookiehead answered. "This is serious business."

"Should I tell Mr. Therapist?" Bananastar asked.

"That's another thing I wanted to talk to you about," Cookiehead veered off. "Do you think he's a good medicine cat?"

"Of course he's a good medicine cat," Bananastar retorted. "Has any cat died since he came here?"

"When Stupidknowledge-I mean, Stupidpaw," Cookiehead argued, "was here no cat died either."

"Is there any reason he musn't be medicine cat?"

"Yes," Cookiehead slipped out.

"What is it?" Bananastar's eyes were knowing as he gazed at his deputy.

"I saw him hypnotising Laughingmouth," Cookiehead revealed.

"I'm sure that reveals the reason why he's not laughing now," Bananastar realized. "Let me guess-he hypnotised Nicepaw, too?"

"Yes, siree," Cookiehead replied.

"Nothing's wrong with hypnotising Nicepaw," Bananastar retorted.

"But I liked when Laughingmouth laughed all the time," Cookiehead remembered. "Now he just seems drab. Nyanpaw, Discopaw, and Starpaw will never remember the father their father used to be!"

"Just because he hypnotised one cat doesn't mean we should get rid of him," Bananastar tried to retort.

"I didn't say we should get rid of him," Cookiehead mentioned.

"But, still, there's no reason we should dislike him," Bananastar repeated. "Tell you what: if I see Mr. Therapist hypnotise one more cat _uneedingly _then I'll get rid of him. Conversation over." Bananastar flicked his tail without saying a word and Cookiehead excited the den, his head drooping.

_I just _know _there's something wrong with Mr. Therapist!_

Out in the clearing, near the fresh-kill pile, Nicepaw was watching Discopaw, Nyanpaw, and Starpaw play in the clearing, practicing "battle training". Discopaw was sneaking up on Nyanpaw, who quickly turned around and jumped on him. Squeaks and squeals came from where the three apprentices played, and Nicepaw chuckled as she watched them play.

Nyanpaw slowly watched Discopaw as he got to his feet and began to groom his pelt. Nyanpaw dropped into a hunting crouch and began to stalk Discopaw as he went on like there was no problem with the world. Nyanpaw got really close to Discopaw, and then opened her mouth. "BOO!" she yelled.

Anger burned in Nicepaw's eyes as she looked at the apprentices. "Are you paying any attention to me?" she growled, her ears flattening.

"Well, boo back to you!" Discopaw repeated.

Nicepaw suddenly sat back down and began grooming her pelt as if nothing had ever happened.

"Boo to both of you!" Starpaw laughed.

"Hello!" Nicepaw growled. "I'm over here _too!_"

"You don't sneak up on prey and then say 'boo'!" Laughingmouth joked.

Nicepaw smiled contentedly as she watched the kits.

The kits all began to laugh. "Saying 'boo' to prey," Discopaw chuckled. "That's funny!"

"Okay, that's it, if you don't want to pay attention to me, THAT'S NOT MY FAULT!" Nicepaw screamed as she ran toward the apprentices' den.

"I can't imagine such good warriors like you saying 'boo' to prey, though," Laughingmouth soothed, giving his kits a lick on the shoulder.

"Why am I heading towards the apprentices' den?" Nicepaw asked herself.

"Thank you for calling us good warriors," Nyanpaw thanked. She stayed silent for a moment. "BOO!"

Every cat jumped back. "That scared the honey out of me!" Nicepaw yelled, furious. "Don't you KNOW that my ears are very sensitive?"

"Boo to you too," Discopaw joked.

Nicepaw suddenly became happy. "Have a nice day," she meowed happily to the apprentices as she went into her den.

"What the heck was that?" Cookiehead asked.

Bananastar shook his head. "It must have been something to do with Mr. Therapist."

"Mr. Therapist hypnotised her," Cookiehead revealed. "He used a key word that would trigger the hypnotisation on and off. That must have been 'boo'."

"Better make sure no cat says boo, then," Bananastar mumbled.

"Can't you see how much trouble Mr. Therapist is?" Cookiehead asked. "We need him out of this Clan and Stupidpaw back as medicine cat as soon as possible!"


	14. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER 12**

Gorsenose shook a bunch of bramble off his fur and Deerfoot gave an amused _purr_. "If we keep falling into brambles at this rate, we'll never be out of the forest!" the young tom exclaimed.

The leader shook his head. "It's quite a long way out of the forest, and from there to the city. That's why I organized a deadline of one month."

"How long is the estimation by the time we reach the city?" Fluffyfur asked, her white, fluffy tail curling around her lover.

"Today's March 4th, isn't it?" the leader asked.

Earlflight and Fluffyfur nodded.

"Let me think..." the leader thought as he did some calculations in his head. "March 13th. We'll reach the city by then."

"That's a long time!" Gorsenose whined.

"Not when you have friends," Fluffyfur mentioned, smiling as she dug her nose into the leader's pelt.

The leader gave a small chuckle. "Fluffyfur, you don't need to show it off to everybody."

Fluffyfur gave a small _oops _and pulled away from the leader. The leader nodded contentedly and continued traveling across the ground. The ground was still grassy underpaw, and white clouds clouded the beautiful blue sky. The river had turned by now, so no longer was it guiding them. Spruce and beech trees were around them, guarding the end of the forest. It was a little more than middday, and the sun was quite low in the sky.

"Dodododododo," Gorsenose mumbled, stones rolling under his paws. "Lalalalalala..."

The leader flashed an exasperated glance at the gray tom. "You don't need to have everybody know your boredom!"

"Sorry," Gorsenose meowed. He turned over to Deerfoot. "What's gotten into his fur?"

"Exasperation, probably," Deerfoot answered. "We're all bored. It's as if this journey wasn't as fun as we thought it'd be."

Earlflight's stomach began to rumble. "I'm hungry!" she wailed.

The leader felt a growl rise in his throat. "Fine, we'll hunt," the leader growled. "Meet me back here when you're done." The cats nodded and rushed off into the forest, as the leader let his senses reach. He sniffed a vole, and tracked it to a tree, where it was digging a burrow. The leader began to sneak up on it. His eyes widened and he started to waggle his rump.

"Hello!"

The vole ran into his burrow.

"Mouse-dung!" the leader growled. "Who is it now?" The leader turned around to see a brown-colored tom sitting on his fence. "Who are you?" the leader growled.

"I'm Yodelie," the tom answered happily. "Who're you?"

"The leader," the leader meowed regrettably. "I was trying to catch a vole there! Couldn't you see me?"

"Soh-ree," Yodelie meowed, rolling his eyes. "I just got so excited at seeing a cat actually hunt! Where are you going?"

"Where are _we _going," the leader corrected. "I've got four other cats with me, and we're prepared for a fight."

"Well, then where are _they _going?" Yodelie repeated.

"To the city," the leader answered.

Yodelie's eyes widened in surprise. "The city?" he asked. "Oh, I know a shortcut to there! I could help you, if you want."

"No, thanks." The leader shook his pelt. "We're perfectly fine on our own. I've already got cats nagging me."

Yodelie nodded. "Well, I could just help you find a quicker way there, and then go back home. What day is it today?"

"March 4th," the leader answered.

"And when do you plan to get back?" Yodelie asked.

"April 4th," the leader replied, thinking of why he was revealing all this information to a kittypet. _Then again, Fluffyfur was a kittypet when I first met her. _

"With the way I know, you'll be coming back on March 26th," Yodelie replied. "That's nine days before you should come back."

"Thanks, but I've already revealed enough. We can manage on our own." The leader waved his tail and was about to pad away when Yodelie interrupted again.

"I'm also good at jumping," Yodelie protested. "Pretty pretty _please _can I come with you?"

The leader thought for a moment. "Oh, fine," he meowed regrettably. "But the rest of my team needs to agree."

Yodelie nodded. "Okie-dokie!"

The leader padded away from the kittypet's fence back to where they had met up. Gorsenose had two mice dangling from his jaws, Deerfoot had a squirrel, Earlflight had a vole, and Fluffyfur had a thrush. The leader nodded. "Good job. Lay it down here." He pointed with his tail towards a grassy spot in the middle of the field.

As the cats placed their prey there, the leader looked at them, and they looked at him. "While I was hunting, I met a kittypet named Yodelie. He knows a quicker way to the city, that will get us back home by March 26th instead of April 4th. Plus, he's a good jumper. I've decided that he should come with us. Does anyone disagree?"

No one responded. Finally, everyone nodded their heads. "We need to get home quick, plus we might need to jump out in the city," Gorsenose mentioned.

"That's the problem," the leader responded. "He's only leading us up to the city, and not any farther."

"Perhaps we could persuade him to go farther when that time comes." Earlflight ended the conversation quickly. "For now, let's call him over."

The leader nodded contentedly and ran off into the forest where he had been hunting the mouse. "Yodelie!" he called. "You can come!"

"Hooray!" Yodelie meowed, leaping off his fence and racing through the forest towards the group of cats. "So, so, are we leaving yet? I can show you the shortcut!"

"Is it dangerous?" Fluffyfur asked.

"It's only a short cut through my housefolk's houses," Yodelie answered, pointing his tail towards the Twolegplace. "It's risky, but it's quick."

"Do you mean the Twolegplace with the pine trees and rocks?" Earlflight asked.

"Yep," Yodelie mewed.

"That's where the Marshmellows live," the leader cut in. "Pointedpelt, Brownwing, Toto, all of them. We'll have to risk sneaking through there, and we have to be unseen if we want to get through."

The cats were silent for a moment. Then Gorsenose gulped. "It's a risk we have to take."

"More cats, or no cats at all," the leader argued.

"We need to get there quick!" Gorsenose protected.

"We don't want the Marshmellows to attack us!" the leader defended.

"Perhaps we could try sneaking atop the fences and up the roofs," Deerfoot suggested.

"Good idea." Fluffyfur nodded. "The leader, do you agree."

There was silence. Every cat was staring at the leader. Then he nodded. "We're going through the Twolegplace. Like Gorsenose said, it's a risk we have to take. We just _need _to get to this city. We _need _to."


End file.
